Actress Moushumi Hamid has expressed concern over the alleged assault and harassment of actress Azmeri Haque Badhan in Venice, Italy, while questioning the tendency to judge artists based on their political identities.
Badhan has alleged that water, soft drinks and eggs were thrown at her in Venice. She said she was physically assaulted and that her mobile phone was knocked from her hand. Her brother’s young child was also present during the incident, according to the actress.
She later filed a complaint with local police.
Badhan has claimed that she was targeted because of her active participation in the July-August 2024 student-led mass uprising. She also alleged that some of those involved identified themselves as members of the Awami League and Bangladesh Chhatra League and as “soldiers of Bangabandhu”.
Reacting to the incident, Hamid wrote on Facebook, “Being an artist in this country is also a sin. Because artists themselves seem to be speaking like the biggest politicians.”
She stressed that no attack on an artist should ever be justified, regardless of where it takes place.
“An attack on any artist is unacceptable. Whether it happens at Dhanmondi’s 32 or in Venice, we should never support an attack,” she wrote.
Hamid said she had never been involved with any political party, although she has always spoken about the country’s situation and what she believes is right or wrong.
She also questioned those who have supported the alleged attack on Badhan or attempted to justify it by comparing it with past political incidents.
“If someone believes that because a person’s clothes were torn at 32 in the past, another person’s clothes can now be torn by a political party, then what kind of leadership are they talking about?” she wrote.
Hamid further criticised the growing tendency to judge people based on political affiliation rather than humanity.
“As artists, we are forgetting to judge people by their humanity and are learning only to judge them by their political affiliation,” she wrote.
Criticising violence and abuse carried out in the name of politics, Hamid referred to political leaders including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Ziaur Rahman and Maulana Bhashani.
She said the struggle to become a leader of the people now appears to have been replaced by a culture of tearing one another’s clothes and humiliating opponents.
Hamid made her position clear that no political identity or ideology can legitimise an attack on an artist.
She stressed that, above all, artists should maintain a humane perspective towards other people.
