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Rasel Ahmed
Rasel Ahmed is a community based filmmaker, archivist, and queer activist from Bangladesh. He is the co-founder and editor of the first, and to date, the only LGBTQ magazine, Roopbaan, in Bangladesh. The Muslim majority country violently reacted to the news of this publication. Not long after, Xulhaz Mannan, the other co-founder and publisher of Roopbaan magazine, and Mahbub Tonoy, a leader in Roopbaan, were brutally murdered in an Al-Qaeda led terrorist attack in April 2016. Rasel fled to the US where he is currently seeking asylum. He has been accepted into a graduate program at Columbia University with a full tuition waiver, but needs help with living expenses.
Activism in Bangladesh
In 2015, Rasel led a group of artists and researchers to produce one of the world’s first Muslim lesbian comic heroines named Dhee. The character was created as part of a campaign to educate people on gender and sexuality related issues. Using the comic strip, Rasel and his team organized 12 advocacy events in all seven divisions of Bangladesh that was attended by almost 600 non-LGBTQ people. Dhee remains the largest LGBTQ campaign ever held in Bangladesh. The same year he was admitted to the Bangladesh Cinema and Television Institute and produced a documentary film that tells of his own experience as a gay rights advocate.
The heightened visibility of the LGBTQ movement created mounting pressure and security threats. While Rasel was filming the annual LGBTQ Rainbow Rally in 2016, police arrested four gay men on the charge of initiating the rally. Ten days later, his friends and colleagues were brutally murdered in a machete-wielding attack.
How can we help?
Rasel’s sudden relocation abruptly ended his ongoing postgraduate education. With a desire to conclude his unfinished education, he has accepted the offer from Columbia University. It’s a studio art MFA program where Rasel will be doing extensive research on different forms of migration and producing film/video art projects on queer displacement.
Even with his tuition waiver, Rasel needs support to pay for his living expenses in New York City. A condition of his tuition waiver requires him to work 20 hours/week as a teaching assistant so he won’t have much time to work a second job. His pay from this position for the entire semester will be only $3,600, which won’t go far in NYC. We are hoping to raise enough to cover this courageous man’s first year living costs. Won’t you please help?
Thank you so much for your generosity.
Rasel Ahmed is a community based filmmaker, archivist, and queer activist from Bangladesh. He is the co-founder and editor of the first, and to date, the only LGBTQ magazine, Roopbaan, in Bangladesh. The Muslim majority country violently reacted to the news of this publication. Not long after, Xulhaz Mannan, the other co-founder and publisher of Roopbaan magazine, and Mahbub Tonoy, a leader in Roopbaan, were brutally murdered in an Al-Qaeda led terrorist attack in April 2016. Rasel fled to the US where he is currently seeking asylum. He has been accepted into a graduate program at Columbia University with a full tuition waiver, but needs help with living expenses.
Activism in Bangladesh
In 2015, Rasel led a group of artists and researchers to produce one of the world’s first Muslim lesbian comic heroines named Dhee. The character was created as part of a campaign to educate people on gender and sexuality related issues. Using the comic strip, Rasel and his team organized 12 advocacy events in all seven divisions of Bangladesh that was attended by almost 600 non-LGBTQ people. Dhee remains the largest LGBTQ campaign ever held in Bangladesh. The same year he was admitted to the Bangladesh Cinema and Television Institute and produced a documentary film that tells of his own experience as a gay rights advocate.
The heightened visibility of the LGBTQ movement created mounting pressure and security threats. While Rasel was filming the annual LGBTQ Rainbow Rally in 2016, police arrested four gay men on the charge of initiating the rally. Ten days later, his friends and colleagues were brutally murdered in a machete-wielding attack.
How can we help?
Rasel’s sudden relocation abruptly ended his ongoing postgraduate education. With a desire to conclude his unfinished education, he has accepted the offer from Columbia University. It’s a studio art MFA program where Rasel will be doing extensive research on different forms of migration and producing film/video art projects on queer displacement.
Even with his tuition waiver, Rasel needs support to pay for his living expenses in New York City. A condition of his tuition waiver requires him to work 20 hours/week as a teaching assistant so he won’t have much time to work a second job. His pay from this position for the entire semester will be only $3,600, which won’t go far in NYC. We are hoping to raise enough to cover this courageous man’s first year living costs. Won’t you please help?
Thank you so much for your generosity.
Fundraising team (2)
Vic Basile
Organizer
Chevy Chase, MD
Rasel Ahmed
Beneficiary
Winston Johnson
Team member
