Originally published on Global Voices

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Mangal Shobhajatra is an annual procession of thousands of people that takes over the streets of Bangladesh’s capital city Dhaka. It marks the start of the Bengali New Year in April.

Recently, UNESCO named this parade Intangible Cultural Heritage. But what might look like just a street party is actually a creative stand for unity — and against the forces of intolerance who seek to divide and oppress Bangladeshis.

In this episode of Into the Deep, a Global Voices podcast that digs deep into one topic that isn’t getting the media coverage it deserves, Global Voices contributors Pantha and Rezwan tell us all about Mangal Shobhajatra.

At a time when xenophobia is seemingly on the rise in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in the world, perhaps Bangladesh and its unique New Year’s procession can offer some inspiration on how to take a stand against those trying to sow the seeds of division.

In this episode, we featured Creative Commons licensed music from the Free Music Archive, including Ray Gun – FasterFasterBrighter by Blue Dot Sessions (CC BY-NC 4.0); Dramamine by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0); Tribal by David Szesztay (CC BY-NC 3.0); Stuck Dream by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0); and Ally Pally Happy Clappy by krackatoa (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).

We also featured Duur Deshi Shei Rakhaal Chhele (Acapella) – Rabindrasangeet – Anirban Chakraborty (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) from SoundCloud and audio from YouTube videos published by users Azim Khan Ronnie and nazmulsoft.

The feature photo in this story is from Flickr by Aaapon (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Written by L. Finch, Sahar Habib Ghazi