This article was downloaded by: [182.16.159.

137]
On: 23 February 2015, At: 19:28
Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Global Discourse: An Interdisciplinary

Journal of Current Affairs and Applied
Contemporary Thought
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rgld20

Sport as a critique of politics: Everest

climbing, nationalism and the failure of
politics in Bangladesh
a
Mubashar Hasan
a
School of Government and International Relations, Griffith
University, Business 2, N 72, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, Australia
Published online: 19 Feb 2015.

Click for updates

To cite this article: Mubashar Hasan (2015): Sport as a critique of politics: Everest climbing,
nationalism and the failure of politics in Bangladesh, Global Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal
of Current Affairs and Applied Contemporary Thought, DOI: 10.1080/23269995.2015.1004255

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2015.1004255

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the
Content) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,
our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to
the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions
and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,
and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content
should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources
of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,
proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or
howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising
out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &
 Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-
and-conditions
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015
 Global Discourse, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2015.1004255

Sport as a critique of politics: Everest climbing, nationalism and the

failure of politics in Bangladesh
Mubashar Hasan*

School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Business 2, N 72, Nathan
Campus, Brisbane, Australia

Attempting to scale Mount Everest is a very recent sporting activity for Bangladeshis.
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

Presently, four Bangladeshis (two men and two women) have hoisted the flag of
Bangladesh, a country ranked consistently low on global governance and development
indices, over the peak of Everest. In the aftermath, these mountaineers have become
sources of national inspiration and received national media attention and have been
associated with politicians and civil society groups. In other words, they become
national heroes powerful symbols of nationalism in recognition of their heroic
achievement of hoisting the flag at the top of the world. My thesis is that, in
Bangladesh, Everest climbing has political significance as these mountaineers use
their public platform to criticise national politics. Even hoisting the flag at the top of
the world (after risking own lives) can be used as a way to express dissatisfaction over
the countrys politics.
Keywords: sports; politics; nationalism; Everest; Bangladesh

Introduction
Many authors have looked at the relationship between sport and nationalism (for instance,
Dimeo 2001; Ranc 2009; Collins 2005; MacLean 2009), and it is often claimed that sport
plays an effective role in shaping nations and nationalism. I agree with this claim,
however, I argue that there is also scope to evaluate sports ability to facilitate critiques
of politics. To illustrate this, I use the case of Bangladeshi Everest climbers. Drawing
upon a multidisciplinary literature, interviews and news report analysis, I argue that
Bangladeshs young mountaineers risk their lives1 to hoist Bangladeshs flag a symbol
of Bangladeshi statehood at the top of the world to elevate the poor image of
Bangladesh to a new, respectable yet abstract height. The feats of these mountaineers
and their use of symbolism can also act as a criticism of the established political order,
carried out due to nationalist aspirations.
In this article I first introduce a background to Everest climbing for Bangladeshis.
Second, I review the link between Everest climbing and nationalism to demonstrate the
political aspect of Everest climbing. Third, I show how Bangladeshi politicians, civil
society and the media construct these climbers as national heroes to stoke nationalist
sentiment. Finally, I explain why climbing Everest can be seen as a political critique, even
if it often goes unnoticed.
I note that my approach is based on Waltzs philosophical approach to understanding
the world. He argues that a theory can be best explained as a picture, mentally formed, of a

*Email: mubashar.hasan@griffithuni.edu.au

2015 Taylor & Francis

 2 M. Hasan

burdened realm or domain of activity (Waltz 1979, 67). In the view of Waltz, theory
arranges phenomena that are seen as mutually dependent, connects otherwise disparate
facts and shows how changes in some of the phenomena necessarily entail changes in
others. To construct a theory, one must identify a pattern then isolate one realm of the world
from all others in order to deal with it intellectually. In social science this is incredibly
difficult, so one cannot say Everest climbers criticising politics is the only pattern among
Everest climbers. There are other patterns, for example, personal achievement of climbers,
psychological strength, physical fitness and so forth. Following Waltz, my article, however,
isolates the pattern I aim to explain here because in my view this pattern is significant not
only for Bangladesh but also for the scholarship of nationalism, sport and politics.

Everest climbing in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is situated in South Asia and does not have any mountains even remotely
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

matching the height of Mount Everest, which stands at over 8000 m. The top three
mountain peaks in Bangladesh are Mowdok Mual (1003.3 m), Ramiu Taung (920 m) and
Keokradang (884 m) (Biswas, Swanson, and Vacik 2012, 149). Considering Bangladeshs
low-lying topographical landscape,2 mountaineering is a recent phenomenon in the
country.
The first Bangladeshi to reach the peak of the Everest was a 30-year-old male journalist,
Musa Ibrahim, on 23 May 2010 (The Daily Star, 23 May 2010). Another Bangladeshi man,
M.A. Mohit, scaled Everest on 22 May 2011 (Karim 2012; The Daily Star, 23 May 2011)
whilst on 19 May 2012, a government employee and 31-year-old female, Nishat Majumder,
became the first Bangladeshi woman to reach the peak (The Daily Star, 20 May 2012).
Finally, another 29-year-old woman, who is also a writer and a human rights activist Wasfia
Nazreen, climbed Everest on 26 May 2012 (Karmakar 2012). A fifth Bangladeshi, a
34-year-old filmmaker, Sajal Khaled, attempted the summit in 2013 but went missing
and is presumed dead (Banglanews24, 25 May 2013).

Sport, nationalism and Everest

There is a strong relationship between sport and nationalism, and in Billigs view, sports
intrude upon political discourses (Billig 1995, 123). In this regard many studies are
conducted examining sports role in shaping nationalism in a wide range of countries.
For example, Vidacss (2011) study on the role of soccer in constructing nationhood in
Cameroon found that football is becoming a powerful symbol to Cameroonians in shaping
their imagination of a Cameroonian nation. Collins (2005) studied the importance of rugby
in the construction of Australian nationhood, and Ranc (2009) studied the role of football
in French nationalism. Carlos study of football and nationhood in Costa Rica found that
although the construction of the nation cannot be confined to a single sporting event,
football plays an effective role in the nation-building narrative. According to Carlos, the
sense of nationhood fluctuates over time and context (Sandoval-Garca 2005, 212), but a
specific narrative of national pride is embedded into the Costa Rican nationhood
constructed around football. Dimeo (2001), in his fascinating historic narrative, depicts
the symbolic role played by the Mohammedan Football Club in colonial Bengal in shaping
and constructing popular images of a separate Muslim state by the name of Pakistan. All of
the works cited earlier specify a strong relationship between sport and nationalism, and
they particularly focus on sport as an expression of national pride and prestige. For
 Global Discourse 3

Bangladesh, Everest climbing is part of this kind of national discourse revolving around
pride and prestige.
In the intersection of sport and nationalism, climbing Everest, the highest mountain in
the world, deserves special attention. Bayers (2003, 210), in a provocative monograph,
argues that Everest, from the time it was surveyed and named in 1852, has always been
associated with national pride and has been a subject of politics. On 29 May 1953, in a
British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt, Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa raised in Nepal
but resident in India, and Edmund Hillary, a beekeeper from New Zealand, reached the
summit of Everest. On their return they became symbols of nationalism in India, Nepal,
New Zealand and Great Britain for different reasons. Politicians and the media from these
countries used the climbers as symbols of nationalism and pride for political purposes.
The process of constructing these climbers as symbols of nationalism varied accord-
ing to the local traditions, rituals, and regalia of each national state but was important for
all of them (Hansen 2000, 308309). In Britain, news reports suggested that a man with
British blood had conquered Everest, as New Zealand, home of Hillary, was part of the
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

British Commonwealth (Tiffin and Lawson 1994, 1). Later, Hillary gained a knighthood
and Tenzing was awarded the George Medal.3 In Slemons opinion, Hillarys climb up
Everest was used by Britain as a symbol of pride, prejudice and political supremacy at a
time when the sun was slowly setting over the British Empire (Slemon 1998).
Hansen (2000) believes that by bestowing British honours on Tenzing and Hillary,
Britain reasserted its peculiar, monarchical form of nationalism that helped the redefinition
of its declining empire as a Commonwealth whose members included India, Nepal and
New Zealand. In Nepal, King Tribhuvan conferred the Nepal Tara, the Star of Nepal, and
the highest civilian decoration to Tenzing with the comment that Tenzing had added to
the prestige of Nepal (Hansen 2000, 314). Hansen also observes that Tenzing was
constructed as a national hero by the Indian politicians Nehru, Prasad and many others.
The politicians said that Tenzing had set an example of the higher conquest of the human
spirit, underpinning the importance of living in peace, helping each other in times of need
and living as members of one family. The reason for choosing this rhetoric was politically
motivated because at that time the newly independent state of India (liberated from
colonial rule in 1947) was struggling with internal sectarian strife, violence and political
division. By constructing the Indian resident but ethnically Nepalese Tenzing as a national
hero, Indian politicians tried to overcome sectarian differences by celebrating the diversity
of India. Therefore, Tenzing was used as a political tool for a nation-building process by
Indian politicians in 1953 (Hansen 2000). Likewise, in New Zealand, Hillarys ascent of
Everest contributed to the consolidation of new national identity (Sinclair 1986, 12).
These historic examples suggest that, like other sports, it is plausible to consider Everest
climbing as a political tool for nation-building projects.
After the first ascent of Everest, the act of climbing the worlds tallest mountain turned
into a symbol of prestige for many countries, and it remains so today. More and more
people from different countries have attempted to reach the top of the world and have
been rewarded with state honours and wide media coverage in their home countries.
Recent examples include Maltese and Filipino mountaineers (Williamson and Landingin
2005). While I acknowledge that the act of climbing Everest is a sporting activity first and
foremost, there is an implicit political act embedded into this sport, like every other sport,
when successful summiteers hoist the national flag at the top of Everest and symbolically
mark the moment of national triumph. Bayer (2003) argues that this celebration and its
symbolism create an association between the physical body of the sportsmen and the idea
of prestige and achievement for states or national groups. Of course, personal prestige is
 4 M. Hasan

involved here, but there is a significant political aspect to conquering Everest and
nationalising the triumph. Conquering Everest stands out from almost all other sporting
activities because of the risk of ones loosing life and the extreme difficulty. Therefore,
summiting Everest is a symbol of the human ability to win against all odds, and the notion
of hoisting the national flag on top of Everest delivers a powerful message to the public. It
allows the mountaineers to convey to the public that their state or nation a collection of
many human bodies has shared in a victory against the odds and has attained respect as
being a part of the team that has reached the top of the world and done what was once the
impossible.
The act of raising national flags on Everest requires attention. The dissimilarity of
Everest climbing with other sports is that the climbers risk their lives to bring the flag to a
physical location. They thereby associate their state or nation with a place, a symbol and
an achievement, bringing together state or national logos and heroic deeds and placing
them in a natural, permanent context (on a popular mountain). This makes Everest itself a
symbol of achievement and collective identification. Billig (1995), in his Banal
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

Nationalism thesis, argues that the idea of nationhood is formed or popularly imagined
through many symbols including flags, national anthems and stamps. These symbols act
as powerful platforms to remind people that they belong not only to a state but to a nation
a people with a shared history or culture. Thus nation-states are produced and repro-
duced every day through identification with national symbols (Billig 1995, 10). This
reproduction of nation-states culminates in the production of powerful identities and
attachments to certain ideas or objects as they become ours or part of us. These
identities are not simple concepts, rather they are a form of life because identity is not
a thing; it is a shorthand description for ways of talking about the self and community
(Billig 1995, 60). There is also an international dimension to this concept because
whenever one thinks of us or ours they cannot ignore the existence of theirs or
them. If someone speaks of our nation-state, they acknowledge the existence of their
nation-state. Therefore, creating symbols helps build states into nation-states, and building
nation-states requires and perpetuates the construction of others.

Everest climbers as symbolic national heroes

There is no dearth of literature examining the concept and construction of a hero
(examples include Kohut 2000; Yana 2007; Cronin 2005). However, for my purpose
Paul Gilchrists definition and application of the term hero serves well. For
Gilchrist (2006, 37), the hero is by nature a collective reference point, providing a
sense of identity, status and pride for communities, be they cities, regions and nations,
or supranations. In his opinion heroes are a source of inspiration; however, Gilchrist fails
to recognise that the hero is not a static object. A hero could turn to a villain or to a
layman at any point if his legacy and role are not constantly reproduced.
The Everest climbers of Bangladesh were portrayed in many ways as a source of
inspiration and were used as a collective reference point of pride for Bangladesh. In this
regard, the media, civil society and politicians collectively constructed them as heroes.
One of the climbers, Musa Ibrahim, has participated in around 500 civil society and
political receptions, 200 television shows and 1000 news stories and print articles (Musa
Ibrahim, Interview 2013). Media headlines and photo captions such as Everest Hero
(The Daily Star, 2 March 2011), Everest Bowed Down to Bangladesh (Daily Kaler
Kantho, 27 September 2012), Everest Touches the Sky, Bangladesh Touches Everest
(Daily Amar Desh, 28 May 2010) are typical examples of how the media shapes the
 Global Discourse 5

image of the event and the hero. In the print media, some of these reports openly depicted
the climbers as a source of inspiration for the nation of Bangladesh. Some of these reports
further stated that the nation of Bangladesh can overcome its mountainous sociopolitical
problems if the members of the nation consider the achievement of these climbers and can
be as determined as them (Karim 2010). Another analysis portrayed these climbers as
incredible people who would be a source of pride (Chowdhury and Nishat 2012). As
the Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971 holds a special place in the collective memory
of Bangladeshis, people participating in that war are generally known as freedom fight-
ers and are portrayed as national heroes. Some of the news columns cited earlier even
compared Everest climbers to those freedom fighters, and civil society members and
political leaders alike endorsed these climbers as a source of inspiration.
Politicians, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the opposition leader Khaleda
Zia (a former prime minister), through their speeches and engagements with the mountai-
neers, confirmed the political relevance of the conquest of Everest. Sheikh Hasina, in a
congratulatory message delivered to Musa in 2010, said that Musa has glorified the
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

image of the country in the world by hoisting red-green flag of Bangladesh on the worlds
highest peak. I am proud along with the whole nation of his conquest and delighted with
joy. In 2012, in a reception engagement to honour all four climbers, Sheikh Hasina said
she hoped that these Bangladeshis will inspire future generations to take Bangladeshs flag
to new heights (bdNews24.com, 20 June 2012). Khaleda Zia, on the other hand, was
reported to emphasise the return of national glory through the conquest of Everest in a
separate reception held in the honour of these climbers (Daily Sangram, 11 July 2012).
These rhetorical accounts from the premier and the leader of the opposition might seem
abstract, or fluid with apparently no political implications, but the engagement of these
heavyweight politicians with the affairs of layman mountaineers, and the politicians own
emphasis on the wider significance of the national flag reaching the top of the world,
affirms that the mountaineers are being utilised as a source of nationalism and pride.
I argue that these climbers are portrayed as national heroes by politicians partly because
of the failure on the part of national leaders to build a strong political consensus on the
meaning of Bangladesh as a nation. Bangladesh has few widely accepted, non-partisan
heroes to build a national identity around, and the political use of leading historical figures
is still divisive. The Everest climbers, on the other hand, can be praised by all sides of the
political spectrum and help build less divisive and more acceptable national images.
An example of the rivalry between the two main political parties in constructing a
widely accepted national hero is that of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the
independence movement of Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur was also the leader of the
Awami League (AL) (and father of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina) and is
portrayed by the AL as a father of the nation and a heroic figure for the whole country.
People know him as Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal). The deceased leader of the
Bangladeshi National Party (BNP), on the other hand, Ziaur Rahman (a well-known
military commander during the Liberation War and a military ruler of the country), is
also portrayed as a national hero by the BNP. The two political parties, the AL and the
BNP, compete with each other in trying to propagate their former party leader as the true
father of the nation (see Ali 2010), and this party connection makes Bangladeshs
historical figures divisive. The contest of naming the international airport in the countrys
capital city, Dhaka, is a case in point. The airport was known as Dhaka International
Airport in 1979 but was subsequently named after the then president of Bangladesh, Ziaur
Rahman, as Zia International Airport in 1981. Following an AL election victory, the
airport was renamed as Shahjalal International Airport by the AL government in 2010
 6 M. Hasan

(The Daily Star, 16 February 2010). Shahjalal was a Sufi saint and removing the name of
Ziaur Rahman from the airport was controversial. At the same time, the AL government
decided to rename all establishments named after Ziaur Rahman and is now constructing a
new international airport under the name Bangabanhu International Airport
(BanglaNews24, 30 May 2012). This ongoing contest of naming, renaming and removing
names of contested political heroes from important national monuments is a standard
practice in Bangladesh as leading parties attempt to reshape national images of the past to
mould the national identity. Thus, against the backdrop of the political contest between the
major parties, we have a contest over national heroes around which to construct national
identification and affection. The partisan nature of the two leading historical figures from
recent history means there is a persistent lack of non-controversial national heroes and
plenty of opposition to building the nation around their legacy and ideas. Everest
climbers, however, have no pre-existing political associations and can be instrumental
in filling the proverbial national pride gap. Paradoxically, the apolitical nature of the
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

climbers makes them extremely useful politic tools.

The role of the media in constructing Everest climbers as national heroes deserves
special attention. Not only has the media, through their own narratives (in reports, articles,
photos, video footage), reproduced Everest climbers as national heroes, they also published
political leaders endorsements of the climbers. Through this collective effort, the nation of
Bangladesh finds new representatives, and Everest climbers become sources of new
national pride and nationalism, dissociated from the political party rivalry and yet made
necessary by it. This is a two-level process. In the first stage, as Benedict Anderson (1991,
3033) argues in Imagined Communities, newspapers embody the profound fictiveness of a
nation, delivering a sense of belonging to a large number of people. In the case of
Bangladesh, we see media sources depicting these climbers as symbolic national heroes
who lifted the prestige of the Bangladeshi nation to new heights, and this opens the way for
a second stage of nationalist discourse. Following Anderson (1991, 3035), I argue that
when thousands or, perhaps, millions of Bangladeshis read, watch and hear news reports,
news footage and interviews about Bangladeshi Everest mountaineers, they not only see
them as a source of inspiration and as heroes, but by imagining that thousands of other
fellow Bangladeshis are reading, hearing or watching the same news or video, the process
of national hero construction receives popular legitimisation. Millions of Bangladeshis
imagine that these climbers represent them (or rather, we or us) on Everest. The
mountaineers brought Bangladeshis pride by achieving something in their name. I argue
that it was not possible for news media to reproduce Everest climbers as heroes if the
audience was unable to make the nationalist connection. These were not just Everest
mountaineers, these were Bangladeshi Everest mountaineers.
This finding is not new as I mentioned earlier that sport has contributed in construct-
ing nationalism in other countries. What is new in Bangladeshs case is that the act of
climbing Everest became a critique of politics. In the view of the Everest climbers,
politicians and their politics have failed Bangladesh, and the people and images involved
in climbing Everest became part of a political critique of the established political system.

The failure of politics and Everest climbing as a critique of politics

It is a difficult task to define what constitutes a failure of politics. Nonetheless, one way
to measure the success of politics in a country is to measure the economic and governance
indicators of said country. Kaufmann, Krayy, and Mastruzzi (2010) defined governance as
the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. Accordingly,
 Global Discourse 7

Table 1. Bangladesh in TIs corruption perception index.

Year World position

2001 91 of 91 countries
2002 102 of 102
2003 133 of 133
2004 145 of 145
2005 158 of 158
2006 156 of 163
2007 162 of 179
2008 147 of 180
2009 159 of 159
2010 134 of 178
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

governance indicators have multiple dimensions including civil liberties, freedom of

expression and accountability, the rule of law and control of corruption (Kaufmann,
Krayy, and Mastruzzi 2010, 129). With this in mind, I analyse the success or failure of
the Bangladeshi government in recent years using data from the Freedom House surveys
and Transparency International (TI) statistics. According to Freedom Houses survey
reports, the score for civil liberties in Bangladesh in 2005 was 4.05, in 2007 it was
3.96 and in 2011 it was 4.28. In terms of accountability and public voice, Bangladesh
scored 3.63 in 2005, 3.44 in 2007 and 4.10 in 2011. Finally, with regard to the rule of
law in Bangladesh, it scored 3.42 in 2005, 2.72 in 2007 and 3.08 in 2011. The scoring
index for civil liberties is 17 with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of
freedom. On other hand, in the scoring index of accountability and public voice, 0
represents the weakest performance and 7 represents the strongest. It is evident that
Bangladesh is yet to be a strong achiever in any of the governance indicators after
40 years of independence. Corruption, illiberal laws and mismanagement remain endemic.
The years these surveys were taken illustrate a poor trend of governance in Bangladesh
and, in general, improvements as few or non-existent during that time. For instance, as
Table 1 shows, there is little improvement in the corruption index from TI, with
Bangladesh only lifted from the bottom by the addition of new states to the index.
Such state of weak governance has failed to address many pressing needs of the
country. Some problems, such as growing inequality and widespread poverty amongst the
Bangladeshi population, are directly attributed to a lack of good governance by some
Bangladesh experts (for example see Lewis 2012, 24). Presently, according to the
International Finance Corporation estimate, over 80% of Bangladeshs 160 million people
earn less than $2 per day. Such a lack of economic opportunity hinders human develop-
ment. Bangladesh ranks 146th on the Human Development Index (HDI) as presented in
the 2011 Human Development Report (United Nations Development Program 2011). The
HPI is a multidimensional measure of poverty for developing countries, which takes into
account social exclusion, lack of economic opportunities and deprivations that affect
survival, livelihoods and knowledge (National Institute of Population Research and
Training 2013, 1). The countrys HDI value of 0.500 is slightly above the average of
0.456 for countries in the low human development group but below the average of 0.548
for countries in South Asia. Some problems for Bangladesh identified by the Bangladesh
Health and Demographic Survey (BHDS) include 5% of total population have no toilet
facilities; four in 10 households have no electricity; 40% of children are too short for their
age (known medically as stunted and which is a harbinger of lifelong development
 8 M. Hasan

delays and one of the leading causes of brain damage); and 36% of children under five
were underweight for their age (a further sign of being stunted). This socio-economic
picture of the country shows that politics in Bangladesh has not been able to deliver for
many average people over the past 40 years, leaving many challenges to overcome in
order to elevate Bangladesh to a respectable developmental position among other states.
Whilst solutions to poverty and underdevelopment are difficult to find, in Bangladesh
the politicians and broader political class must be partly responsible for the malaise. The
country is full of toxic political relationships and self-interest, hence the visible and well-
documented signs of corruption and political dysfunction. The 2012 Transparency
International Bangladesh (TIB) study on 149 Members of Parliament (MPs) found that
97% of 149 MPs were involved in multiple activities such as influencing administrative
decisions outside legitimate processes, improperly controlling educational institutions,
misusing development allocations, supporting criminal activities, improperly influencing
public procurements, violating electoral codes of conduct and seizing government land
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

using false statements (The Daily Star, 14 October 2012). The study further found that
53.5% MPs personally carried out criminal acts.
Barkdull (2005) identifies six major problems that sum up the pattern of politics, as well
as provides a reason for the failure of national politics to address them. They are ideological
divisions between the parties, lack of bipartisanship on major development issues, a lack of
internal democracy within these parties (oligarchic control), weakness of political institu-
tions, the unequal status of women and corruption. In this regard, Islam (2011) argues that
Bangladeshi politics can best be explained as confrontational politics where violence by the
state and political parties is a key feature (Islam 2011). The failure of politics and politicians
in Bangladesh makes the younger generation disinterested in politics, a growing problem
that is acknowledged by government ministers (Hasan 2012). Indeed disinterest or anger is
palpable on common blogs and uncensored media.
Based on the mountaineers media statements and speeches, and my in-depth personal
interview with Musa Ibrahim, it is apparent that the goal of gaining prestige, respect and
pride for Bangladesh contributed to the mountaineers motivations for scaling Everest. I
argue that the mountaineers narratives of their achievements are highly political and
designed to foster pride in Bangladeshi nationhood through allegory and symbolism. The
following paragraphs outline how Everest mountaineers politicised their achievement.
At the most basic level, Musa, Mohit, Nishat and Wasfia all stated publicly that they
wanted to hoist the red and green Bangladeshi flag on the top of the world to make their
country proud (Hasan 2012). Nishat repeated this claim at a reception held in her honour
in Dhaka on 7 July 2012, stating that there were many moments during my journey
when I thought I cant do it, but our flag and the anticipation of [the] people of
Bangladesh pulled me back and I said to myself yes I can make my country proud
(Hasan 2012). Similarly, Musa Ibrahims interview with me in Dhaka (23 December
2011) confirmed the political symbolism of his climb. He suggested that, by hoisting the
Bangladeshi flag the on worlds highest peak, he not only wanted to take Bangladesh to
new heights but boost peoples confidence. By accomplishing an apparently impossible
task, I wanted Bangladeshis to realize that, if we want, we can change our fate. There is
no reason even to think we are lagging behind as a nation even though politicians failed us
as a nation and we are best known for our violence and corruption. Musa further said that
politicians demoralised our younger generation who do not think of Bangladesh as a
promising nation. I hope after my accomplishment people would realise every person has
the potential to change the image of the country. They need to act positively in own fields
and reduce dependency on politicians. In this way collectively we would be able to bring
 Global Discourse 9

change. Wasfia further confirmed the political symbolism in her ascension to the Everest
through a television interview where she stated:

I lived abroad for many years and I saw that foreigners know Bangladesh as a corrupt country
As a whole I saw a negative image about Bangladesh. [Against this backdrop], I thought
to myself how to change this negative image. [As you know] I worked many years as a
women rights activists and I know individually Bangladeshi women have moved forward a
lot, I thought I could show this positive image of Bangladesh to the foreigners by ascending
Everest. [Furthermore] you know our women fought during the time of the Independence War
against Pakistan in 1971. In my opinion, Bangladesh has failed to honour these women even
though the foundation of Bangladesh is based on the Independence War of 1971. These
women deserve more respect. Considering these factors I embarked on this expedition.

On her return on 9 June 2012, Wasfia went directly to the Mirpur Martyr Memorial4
where she paid respect to the martyred and, through a press conference held at the
memorial, she dedicated her win to the womens rights activists of Bangladesh and to
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

the people of Bangladesh (bdNews24.com, 9 June 2012).

The connections between the flag, pride and nationhood in the process of summiting
Everest constitutes a strong criticism of politics. The national flag has a symbolic political
significance, and by risking their own lives to hoist the Bangladeshi flag on Everests
peak, these young men and women make a political point that Bangladesh deserves
respect among the worlds nations and that its people are as capable of great achievements
as those from other states despite political dysfunction. Furthermore, each of the success-
ful mountaineers made clear political statements of their own and left little doubt as to
their inspiration and broad political message. Musas emphasis on changing fate of the
nation, or politicians failed us and we need to act, or Wasfias disapproval of political
corruption, and her mission of bringing honour for the people (including the women) of
Bangladesh by ascending the Everest form a clear critique of the current political order.
Furthermore, climbers statements such as politicians failed us, glory for the nation,
remarks about the image of the country and the aim of taking the Bangladeshi flag to a
new height further underscores that, for the mountaineers, bringing honour for the
Bangladeshi nation was a key driving force for their expedition. Every one of the climbers
made a point of hoisting the national flag at the top of Everest, and by doing so, they
helped participate in the construction of a new and more positive image of Bangladesh.
Despite Bangladesh being so negatively portrayed consistently by global development
indices, such as TIs corruption index, the United Nations HDI and the Freedom House
Survey, the climbers proved that great deeds are no beyond their people. Great deeds are
not just possible for climbers but for Bangladeshis.
The climbers focus on the image of the country requires further elaboration. The
world in which we live today is governed by a global political order of sovereign states. In
this global order, capitalism produces competition in a globalised economy, and the
distance between places is narrowing due to new technologies, media coverage
(including social media) and financial liberalisation. In a global marketplace the image
of a nation is an asset and one which is more important than ever before. As Roth and
Diamantopoulos (2009) argue, national images are an important informational cue to
businesses and foreign governments, and states with positive national images are better
equipped to compete in the market. Roth and Diamantopoulos (2009) cited example of
Danish companies that lost millions of dollars worth of business in the Middle East as a
consequence of the publication of a derogatory cartoon of Islams Prophet Muhammad.
This example shows how even a cartoon is capable of creating negative national images
 10 M. Hasan

and inciting an economic backlash in a global market. Likewise, numerous developing

countries suffer from being seen as places unfit for investment, unsafe for foreigners,
unworthy of credit ratings or unstable for political reasons. It is in this context, where
national images are critical to economic outcomes, for individual businesses or entire
countries, that the Bangladeshi mountaineers made their political critique and attempted to
enhance the status of Bangladesh.
Nishat and Wasfias act of climbing Everest also add new dimensions to the nationalist
narrative for the country. Bangladesh has a patriarchal Muslim society and women are
believed to be physically weak, mentally dependent on men and unfit for outdoor
activities. According to Dr Giti Ara Nasreen former Chair, Mass Communication and
Journalism in Dhaka University, Bangladesh (and also a pioneer in a civil society move-
ment that aims to stop negative stereotypes of women in media advertisements) such
beliefs are no doubt social stereotypes and reinforce the weaker position of women in the
society. Therefore by conquering Everest, Nishat and Wasfia have literally brought
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

down mountains of wrong beliefs about Bangladeshi women (Nasreen, personal com-
munication, 10 June 2012). Consequently, it is no wonder that the premier, Sheikh Hasina,
opposition leader Khaleda Zia and the governments minister for women and children
affairs, specifically congratulated Nishat and Wasfia. On a broader level, Nishat and
Wasfia have debunked the masculinity of nationalism through Everest climbing, and
their actions break with traditional gender boundaries. In this case, even if womens rights
were not explicitly on their minds during their climb, the female mountaineers have
offered a challenge to the established patriarchal system and undermined masculine
nationalist constructs. As Hansen (2000) argues, Everest climbing has been seen as a
masculine act and helps build masculine idea of the nation as it brings images of hard
work, conquest and ruggedness. Nishat and Wasfia, whilst participating in the same
activity, have made it possible to view Everest climbing as a Bangladeshi achievement
and not a purely male achievement.

Conclusion
Experiences of politicisation of Everest climbing in other countries show that it was
common to construct Everest climbers as symbols of nationalism in the period of 1950
1963 (Kumar 2013). For example, in 1953, the Mayor of Auckland Sir John Allum in a
reception held in the honour of Hillary said that Hillary brought lustre and renown to the
country of his birth and nurture (quoted in Hansen 2000, 326). Similarly, the first
American climber, John Whittaker, who climbed the Everest on 1 May 1963 was dubbed
a national hero by President Kennedy (Reid 2013). Such patterns highlight three char-
acteristics about Everest climbing and nationalism. First, Everest climbers are routinely
elevated to national heroes by politicians. Second, the nationalist impulses in Everest
climbing have been a common characteristic contributing to nationalist pride and sense of
unity. Finally, for each state the act of climbing Everest out of nationalist impulses
declines as it becomes more commonplace and accessible for their climbers. In recent
years, as the volume of Everest climbs has gone up, the mountain expeditions have
become pure sporting activities for many climbers and divorced from national significance
(Kumar 2013).
However, Bangladesh offers us a different scenario in two aspects. First, Bangladeshis
still climb the mountain out of a nationalist impulse, and they maintain public visibility in
the media and amongst the political class after their achievement. Perhaps this is because
Bangladesh is still in process of nation building. Interestingly, such nationalist impulses
 Global Discourse 11

seem to be a common pattern among climbers from developing nations, whereas climbers
from rich nations climb Everest out of pure individual desire as tourists. For example, in
2010, Nadjib Sirat, an Afghan mountaineer, said prior to his expedition to the Everest that
Im risking my life for a cause my aim is to have people speak of Afghanistan in a
positive way (Brothers 2010). By contrast, a female climber, Raha Moharrak from Rich
Saudi Arabia, who ascended Everest in February 2013, said after her Everest expedition
that as selfish as it sounds, I did it for me and added that people were trying to find a
political connection or social reasons but I simply did it because of I could (Al-Mukhtar
2013).
Second, Bangladeshs case shows that people can climb Everest to offer a direct
political critique, and Bangladeshi climbers are doing it partly for this reason.
Bangladeshis climb Everest to critique national politics by showing that they, even as
individuals, are capable of great deeds, and Bangladesh as a whole is capable of being
more than it is. The mountaineers rhetoric and their symbolic actions on the summit are
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

attempts to lift the nationals abroad and inspire people at home. Political corruption and
underdevelopment should be no obstacle to peoples aspirations if Bangladeshis are
capable of such things as climbing Everest. All these climbers hail from middle-class or
upper-middle-class families, and through their televisions and the Internet, they are well
aware of Bangladeshs negative foreign reputation. To them the idea of bringing glory to
the nation seems imperative and personal.
Scholarly work on nationalism should continue to focus on sports power to create a
platform for political critiques and nationalist constructions. In particular, sport is impor-
tant to developing countries or countries in some sort of political transition. Sport can be
used to inspire loyalty and identification with the nation and, therefore, the state to which
the nation belongs, but when the political class fails to provide satisfactory outcomes for
the people, sport can be turned against the political class. Everest climbing constitutes an
example of this duality of sport; as it is used by the politicians of Bangladesh to create
seemingly apolitical sporting heroes, they can manipulate for their own partisan or
nationalist purposes, yet the climbers themselves are able to use Everest exploits to
critique the state of nations political activism that may or may not be able to bring any
real change in Bangladeshi politics.

Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Professor Martin Griffiths, Professor Andrew O'Neil, Dr Simon Leitch,
Dr Shannon Brincat as well as two anonymous referees from the journal for their comments and
various supports for shaping this article for publication.

Notes
1. Everest climbing is a dangerous sport. According to my rough estimate from news reports at
least 200 people died between 1921 and 2012 as a result of climbing Everest. For a detailed
estimate, see Falle and Barr (2012).
2. About 79.1% of Bangladesh is a floodplain, 8.3% is terraced land and 12.6% is hills. It lies in
the largest delta in the world, the Bengal Basin, formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and
Meghna (GBM) river system (Byomkesh, Nakagoshi, and Shahedur 2009, 81; Biswas,
Swanson, and Vacik 2012, 149).
3. The George Medal is Awarded to civilians for acts of great bravery, but not so outstanding as to
merit consideration for the George Cross.
4. This memorial was built to honour the memories of Bengali intellectuals who were murdered on
1971 by Pakistani forces and their local aides in Bangladesh.
 12 M. Hasan

References
Ali, M. 2010. Understanding Bangladesh. New York: Columbia University Press.
Al-Mukhtar, R. 2013. Raha Moharrak Climbs to the Top of the World because She Can. Arab
News, October 30. Accessed March 30, 2014. http://www.arabnews.com/news/469511
Anderson, B. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism.
London: Edward Arnold.
Another Everest Glory: Muhit Makes It Just a Year Later His Everest Feat Awaits Confirmation.
2011. The Daily Star, May 23. Accessed August 5, 2013. http://archive.thedailystar.net/
newDesign/news-details.php?nid=186925
Barkdull, J. 2005. Democracy Promotion in Bangladesh: The Role of Outside Actors. Journal of
the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh 50 (12): 373396.
Bayers, P. 2003. Imperial Ascent: Mountaineering, Masculinity, and Empire. Boulder, CO:
University Press of Colorado.
Billig, M. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.
Biswas, S., M. E. Swanson, and H. Vacik. 2012. Natural Resources Depletion in Hill Areas of
Bangladesh: A Review. Journal of Mountain Science 9 (2): 147156. doi:10.1007/s11629-012-
2028-z.
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

Brothers, C. 2010. Afghan Climber Aims for Top of Everest. The New York Times, July 28.
Accessed June 23, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/sports/29iht-EVEREST.html?
pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Byomkesh, T., N. Nakagoshi, and R. Shahedur. 2009. State and Management of Wetlands in
Bangladesh. Landscape and Ecological Engineering 5 (1): 8190. doi:10.1007/s11355-008-
0052-5.
Chowdhury, A. 2012. Viva Nishat, Viva Wasfia! BDNews24.com, May 26. Accessed May 27,
2012. http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2012/05/26/viva-nishat-viva-wasfia/
Collins, T. 2005. Australian Nationalism and Working-Class Britishness: The Case of Rugby
League Football. History Compass 3 (1): 119. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2005.00142.x.
Cronin, M. 2005. Sam Maguire: Forgotten Hero and National Icon. Sport in History 25 (2):
189205. doi:10.1080/17460260500186744.
Dimeo, P. 2001. Football and Politics in Bengal: Colonialism, Nationalism and Communalism.
Soccer & Society 2 (2): 5774. doi:10.1080/714004850.
Everest Hero Eyes Bangla Channel. 2011. The Daily Star, March 2. Accessed February 11, 2014.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=176083
Everest Joye Desher Shunam kichuta holeo Fire Esheche Khalede Zia [The Conquest of the
Everest Revived the Glory of the Country to Some Degree Khaleda Zia]. 2012. Daily
Sangram, July 12. Accessed January 23, 2015. http://www.dailysangram.com/news_details.
php?news_id=90647
Falle, M., and A. Barr. 2012. Graphic: A Chronicle of All of the Lives Claimed by Mount Everest.
National Post, May 25. Accessed February 23, 2014. http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/25/
graphic-a-chronicle-of-all-of-the-lives-claimed-by-mount-everest/
First Bangladeshi Woman on Everest. 2012. The Daily Star, May 20. Accessed December 9,
2014. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=234888
Gilchrist, P. 2006. The Politics of Totemic Sporting Heroes and the Conquest of Everest.
Anthropological Notebooks 12 (2): 3552.
Hansen, P. H. 2000. Confetti of Empire: The Conquest of Everest in Nepal, India, Britain, and New
Zealand. Comparative Studies in Society and History 42 (02): 307332. doi:10.1017/
S0010417500002486.
Hasan, M. 2012. Ascending Nationalism, Failure of Politics and Everest Climbing in Bangladesh.
London: OpenDemocracy. Accessed September 29. http://www.opendemocracy.net/open
india/mubashar-hasan/ascending-nationalism-failure-of-politics-and-climbing-everest-in-banglades.
Islam, S. 2011. Political Violence in Bangladesh. In Political Islam and Governance in
Bangladesh, edited by A. Riaz and C. Fair, 2745. New York: Routledge.
Karim, N. 2012. A Reason to Believe. The Daily Star, June 15. Accessed March 23, 2012. http://
archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2012/06/03/achievement.htm
Karim, S. 2010. Everest Chuyeche Akash, Bangladesh Chuyeche Everest (The Everest Touched the
Sky, Bangladesh Touched the Everest). Daily Amar Desh. Accessed March 6, 2011. http://
www.amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2010/05/27/33765.
 Global Discourse 13

Karmakar, P. 2012. Wasfia Mounts Everest: Dedicate Her Feat to Bangladeshi Women. The Daily
Star, May 27. Accessed July 25, 2014. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.
php?nid=235858
Kaufmann, D., A. Krayy, and M. Mastruzzi. 2010. The Worldwide Governance Indicators. The
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No 5430. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Kohut, T. 2000. The Creation of Wilhelm Busch as a German Cultural Hero, 19021908. In
Enlightenment, Passion, Modernity: Historical Essays in European Thought and Culture, edited
by M. S. Micale and R. L. Dietle, 286304. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Kumar, S. 2013. Everest 60 Years after the Conquest. Tehelka, June 1. Accessed December 12.
http://www.tehelka.com/everest-60-after-the-conquest
Lewis, D. 2012. Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Civil Society. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
MacLean, M. 2009. A National(ist) Line in Postcolonizing Cricket: Viv Richards, Biographies and
Cricketing Nationalism. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics 12 (45):
537550. doi:10.1080/17430430802702806.
MPs Engaged in Negative Activities: 53pc of 149 MPs Directly Involved in Criminal Acts,
Reveals TIB Study. 2012. The Daily Star, October 15. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://
Downloaded by [182.16.159.137] at 19:28 23 February 2015

archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=253840
Musa Conquers Everest: Anxious Wait for Official Confirmation on First-Ever Feat of a
Bangladeshi. 2010. The Daily Star, May 24. Accessed November 10, 2014. http://archive.
thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=139787
National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), Mitra and Associates, and ICF
International. 2013. Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011. Calverton, MD:
NIPORT, Mitra and Associates, and ICF International.
Next Generations Will Fly Flag Higher. 2012. BdNews24.com., June 20. Accessed November 23,
2014. http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2012/06/20/next-generations-will-fly-flag-higher
Ranc, D. 2009. Local Politics, Identity and Football in Paris. Modern and Contemporary France
17 (1): 5165. doi:10.1080/09639480802639785.
Reid, C. 2013. First American to Top Everest Still Living on the Edge at 84. CBS News, April 30.
Accessed December 12. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/first-american-to-top-everest-still-liv-
ing-on-the-edge-at-84/.
Roth, P., and A. Diamantopoulos. 2009. Advancing the Country Image Construct. Journal of
Business Research 62 (7): 726740. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.05.014.
Sandoval-Garca, C. 2005. Football: Forging Nationhood and Masculinitiesin Costa Rica. The
International Journal of the History of Sport 22 (2): 212230. doi:10.1080/0952336050035834
Sinclair, K. 1986. A Destiny Apart: New Zealands Search for National Identity. Wellington: Allen &
Unwin.
Slemon, S. 1998. Climbing Mount Everest: Post Colonialism in the Culture of Ascent. Canadian
Literature 158: 1535.
Tiffin, C., and A. Lawson. 1994. Introduction: The Textuality of Empire. In Describing Empire,
Post Colonialism and Textuality, edited by C. Tiffin and A. Lawson, 111. London: Routledge.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP). 2011. Human Development Report 2011.
New York: UNDP.
Vidacs, B. 2011. Banal Nationalism, Football and Discourse Community in Africa. Studies in
Ethnicity and Nationalism 11 (1): 2541. doi:10.1111/j.1754-9469.2011.01105.x.
Waltz, K. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Wasfia Dedicates Her Feat to Women. 2012. Bdnews24.com. June 9. Accessed December 4,
2014. http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2012/06/09/wasfia-dedicates-her-feat-to-women
Williamson, H., and R. Landingin. 2005. Filipino Climbers Aim for Lofty Boost to National Pride
with Everest Trip. Financial Times, October 15. London.
Yana, H. 2007. Aleksei Balabanovs Russian Hero: Fantasies of Wounded National Pride. The
Slavic and East European Journal 51 (2): 295311.
Zia Made Shahjalal International Airport: All Establishments Named after Zia to be Renamed.
2010. The Daily Star, February 16. Accessed July 7, 2013. http://archive.thedailystar.net/
newDesign/news-details.php?nid=126503