http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5229872.stm
BBC News
Monday, 31 July 2006, 00:31 GMT 01:31 UK
Brick Lane protesters hurt over 'lies'
By Mario Cacciottolo
When you turn the corner into Brick Lane in London's Shoreditch, the
whiff of aromatic spices and strains of Bengali pop music are
unmistakeable.
A busy, vibrant street, this heady mix of East London and the Indian
subcontinent was also the scene of a noisy and passionate protest on
Sunday.
Some 120 members of the Banglade**** community from London and beyond
marched in protest against the forthcoming film adaptation of Monica
Ali's novel, Brick Lane.
The book is about a Banglade**** woman sent to London for an arranged
marriage.
But some local Banglade****s claim the novel insults them specifically,
by being named after the street in which they live and work.
They say Ms Ali ****trays Banglade****s as uneducated and
unsophisticated, and repeatedly mention a passage which they say has
Banglade****s coming over to England in the hold of a ****p and with
lice in their hair.
Filming protest
This community first complained vehemently when the novel was first
released in 2003 to much critical acclaim.
But the attempts of Ruby Films, makers of the forthcoming movie
adaptation, to film exterior scenes in the street itself have re-
opened wounds that have never really healed.
The film-makers have since abandoned their plans and will now shoot
the footage elsewhere.
A small group of mostly middle-aged Banglade****s, all men save for two
women, gathered in Brick Lane in the warm afternoon, holding a banner
and hand-written posters.
Assurances were given by local businessman and protest organiser Abdus
Salique that the widely-re****ted plans to burn copies of the book were
incorrect.
Soon chants began, and slogans such as "Community, community,
Banglade**** community" and "Monica's book, full of lies" repeatedly
rang out.
Numbers began to swell, and everything seemed orderly enough until a
young Asian man stepped forward to ask if anyone had actually read the
book.
This provoked a furious reaction from one of the protesters, who
shouted and moved toward the dissenter.
He was swiftly stopped in his tracks by a hug from Dr Hasanat Husain,
one of the organisers of the protest, and the incident quickly cooled
down.
Dr Husain delivered a short speech in which he explained how the
Banglade**** community felt about Ms Ali's novel.
"A book has been written, that has greatly offended the hard-working,
industrious Banglade**** community," he said.
"This hard-working community has been offended by lies, slander and
cynicism. There should be a limit to what you can write or say.
"You can write fiction, but you cannot use names that are reality. The
reality is Brick Lane."
Backwards step
The banner-carrying, poster-waving and slogan-chanting group then
moved off down the street itself, leaving behind a small group
gathered around a verbal sparring match between two Asian men, one of
whom is Shochall, Mr Salique's 27-year old son.
"If this film is being made here then it's taking us back another 10
years," he said.
"If you're going to write certain things then don't upset people.
That's all we ask. It's upsetting our elders and giving us a bad name"
Shochall admits to not having read the book, but says he has read
"bits and pieces" of it while having other sections explained to him
by others.
The protesters had taken over Brick Lane by now, and were being
followed by a small handful of police officers who strolled casually
behind, at a distance.
One officer, however, did spring into action when a bit of pu****ng and
shoving broke out between a protester and Dan Simon, 28, of south-east
London, who admitted he was shouting and remonstrating with the
marchers.
He was pulled to one side and given a bit of a talking-to by the
policeman. Dan later said he was annoyed the film-makers were
"thwarted" by the Banglade**** community.
"The film should be made, it's not specifically against Islam or the
Banglade**** community itself.
"A lot of these people will not have read the book and it's really not
that inflammatory."
Lack of women
It was quite noticeable that there were almost no women directly
involved in the march. One of the two who did march was Salina Akhtar,
41, who lives not far from Brick Lane.
She said she didn't know why women were not at the protest, but said
the female members of the Banglade**** community were upset by Ms Ali's
novel.
Muhammad Shahabuddin, 56, from Plaistow, London, said the lack of
female representation was because "Muslim women are very conservative
and they don't feel comfortable coming here.
"If there was a protest just for the women then they would come."
However, when this suggestion was made to Dr Husain, he spoke of his
"frustration" at "stereotyping" of the community.
The reasons there are few women protesting about a book and a film
which is centred around a woman's life, he said, is more mundane.
"This event was organised at short notice and obviously our families
have children. So who looks after them?
"My wife wanted to come and face this, but at the moment I have
guests."
Passer-by Andrew Insley, 26, who lives in Tower Hamlets, watched the
protest with interest.
"All this is making me want to do is read the book and watch the
film," he said.
========================================================
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5190990.stm
BBC News
Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 15:05 GMT 16:05 UK
Brick Lane 'fury' over film plans
Brick Lane 'fury' over film plans
People living and working in an area of east London are unhappy at
plans to film the adaptation of Monica Ali's book, Brick Lane, in the
area.
They claim the book is "insulting" towards the predominately
Banglade**** community of Brick Lane, Shoreditch.
The book about a Banglade**** woman sent to London for an arranged
marriage is being adapted by Ruby Films.
Mahmoud Roug, chairman of the Brick Lane Business Association, said
the community hoped to prevent filming.
He said public meetings had been held and the action taken would
depend on what the community wanted.
'No right'
"The book is a good work of literature, but is insulting to the
community," said Mr Roug.
"Monica Ali does not belong to the community. She has written a book
that is just guesswork.
"People are disgusted about the film, and while the authorities have
given permission for it to be filmed here, it does not mean they have
permission from the community.
"We will do what the community wants us to do. We are not going to
leave it as it is.
"They have no right to do it [film] in Brick Lane."
Book prize
In a statement, Ruby Films said: "Throughout the production process of
Brick Lane we have maintained constant contact with members of the
local community, some of whom are involved in the film as both
consultants and crew.
"When there is a finished product to watch, we will be happy to open a
dialogue with anybody who has concerns regarding the film that they
have seen."
The local council, Tower Hamlets, said it would be happy to listen to
people's concerns about the film, adding that it had little control
over filming on non-council property.
It added: "Generally speaking, we try to encourage filming as its both
generates income and helps to put the borough on the map."
Brick Lane, which was Ali's debut novel, was shortlisted for the 2003
Booker Prize.
In December 2003 Banglade**** community leaders from The Greater Sylhet
Development and Welfare Council - which represents Banglade****s in the
UK - called the book a "despicable insult".
At the time, Random House said the company did not believe the book's
views were offensive.
===========================================================
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/08/08/d608081503136.htm
Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
The Brick Lane controversy
By Sajid Chowdhury
MONICA Ali's Brick Lane was published and received international
acclaim in 2003. It upset quite a few people, mostly Banglade****
Sylhetis in the United Kingdom, who regard the story as an inaccurate
and dim ****trayal of their culture. And over the past few weeks, the
filming of the upcoming movie based on the novel has faced problems
due to a few angry Brick Lane residents who forced the production to
move elsewhere.
You wouldn't think such a small group of protesters could strike so
great a blow to the freedom of expression. But it did, and received
international media attention in the process. Meanwhile, two
powerhouses of literatureGermaine Greer and Salman Rushdiehave been
exchanging insults in The Guardian over the controversy, blowing it
way out of pro****tion. So what could have been a quiet local matter
eventually ballooned into a huge affair with a tragic conclusion.
Those protesters remind me of bigots in Dhaka marching against the
Ahmadiyya community and a minister wanting to clamp down on our
journalists' right to free speech. All attempts at restricting
freedom. The irony in each case is that angry dissenters need to
exercise their own right to free expression in order to curb someone
else's. How hypocritical!
"Perhaps the Brick Lane residents have a right to be angry," I
thought. After all, life on that road for the heroine of Ms. Ali's
story wasn't ****trayed very favourably, and a movie might just enhance
negative stereotypes about the community. And Ms. Ali is only an
outsider looking into a society which has existed for decades. She has
never lived on or near Brick Lane and, unlike the overwhelming
majority of its residents, is not Sylheti. OK, point taken.
But after a quick hearing of the protesters on the street and on the
Internet, you realize they have absolutely no idea of what they're
talking about: They talk about hurtful passages from the book and film
which don't exist. Why should anyone listen to a group whose only
basis for protest are lies and ignorance?
The leader of the Campaign Against Monica Ali's Film Brick Lane, Abdus
Salique, has said the protests have both ideological and economic
motivations. He and his counterparts are worried that any negative
****trayal of Brick Lane will have repercussions on businesses. But I
doubt anyone will stop visiting their favourite curry house just
because they read a fictional story about adultery and one woman's
liberation.
Salique has been a rather animated character since the filming
controversy began, quoted in the Guardian as saying: "If she has the
right to freedom of speech, we have the right to burn books. We will
do it to show our anger. We don't like Monica Ali." Isn't book-burning
what Nazis did?
For Salique's group, the heart of the matter is Ms. Ali's background:
She is only half-Banglade****, not Sylheti and not a Brick Lane
resident. Salique believes, "she is not one of us." If by "us" he
means"'insecure tyrants pu****ng conservative views on the rest of the
community," he's right. If by "us" he means Sylhetis or residents,
then he's speaking an irrelevant truth: travel writers are hardly ever
citizens of the places they write about. And if by "us" he means
Banglade****s, he's wrong.
The approach of Ms. Ali's detractors defies logic. Scared that their
community's image will suffer, they have taken action which publicly
proves them to be bigots. They have warned of violence if any more
filming takes place on Brick Lane, threatened to burn books, and
flooded message boards on the Internet with hate-filled commentary.
What better way tarnish your image?
All this over a work of fiction! Even Ms. Ali has hinted that research
certainly did not play a tremendous role in her work. Her detractors
should be thankful she didn't write about something absolutely
factual, like the story of the maid who works in her house; married at
age 12, a mother at 13, and now a single parent with an 8-year old
daughter, etc. Far more damning than a bit of adultery, if you ask me.
How should Ms. Ali have ****trayed Brick Lane's people? As a group of
insecure old men threatening to burn the books of one of the few
internationally successful women from their own home country? As a
ragtag group of immigrants demanding that the rights given them by
their host nation are denied to other people? Come to think of it, we
are better off with reality left out of the picture.
I am amazed that this issue has been ignored here in Bangladesh, save
for a couple of paragraphs on the middle pages of a Daily Star issue.
Someone is making a film about the experience of a Banglade****
immigrant, and other Banglade****s have campaigned to prevent that from
happening! That sounds almost as bad as Bangladesh rejecting Ms. Ali's
visa application in 2003 (which the Foreign Ministry denies).
The Brick Lane protesters are certainly not the voice of the entire
community. A lot of residents were in fact pleased with the prospect
of a film being shot near their homes, and some even voiced hoped that
they could play as extras. It would have generated good publicity and
would have been excellent for local business. But a bunch of ultra-
conservative morons who did not even read the book are now protesting
against non-existent segments of the movie and have managed to deprive
their neighbours of all benefits of any filming. What a way to shoot
yourself and your peers in the foot!
It is also showing a complete lack of respect to the nation that
accepted them. In England, freedom of expression tops the list of
rights granted to all residents, and these protesters are trying to
take it from the author. They have adopted some tribal mentality,
warning the writer to stay off their turf unless she is ready to
****tray them all as loving individuals living on a golden street lined
with roses. And because of their stupidity over the last few weeks, a
lot more people are going to watch the movie.
===========================================================
|
