THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At the fourth edition of the Kerala Legislature International Book Festival (KLIBF), the idea of peace took centre stage as renowned Bangladeshi-Swedish writer, physician, feminist and activist Taslima Nasrin rose to speak. The concept, which she traced in her books, inspired individuals to shape their inner life and stretch it to a larger global order.
Addressing Thiruvananthapuram as a cultural heart, Taslima said Kerala had shown the world that ideas, thoughts, and courage matter. She recalled the reformist struggles of Ayyankali, Sree Narayana Guru, and EMS Namboothirippad, who stood with marginalised communities and reshaped society through resistance and reform. She also remembered Nangeli, the woman who refused to pay the oppressive breast tax, reminding the audience that progress is never accidental — it always is a choice.
For Taslima, a thinking society is a free society, where books are treated as necessities than luxuries. Calling peace “the most abused word in history,” she spoke first about inner peace. Holding a book, she said, could help people survive grief, find calm, and breathe again through acceptance, forgiveness, and authenticity.
When she moved to the idea of social and global peace, Taslima said books on war and violence raised uncomfortable but essential questions such as “Why do nations go to war?” and “Why does violence repeat itself?”
She pointed out that issues like patriarchy are often avoided, creating a “lie by omission.” Books, she insisted, must challenge cruelty and injustice rather than remain silent in the name of tradition. “Peace is not the avoidance of conflict,” Taslima said. “It is the confrontation of the causes of conflict.” She added, “Peace without equality is a lie. Peace without reason is superstition disguised with a smile.”
Silence, she warned, can also be fear; calmness can hide oppression; even dictatorships can appear peaceful through enforced silence.
True peace, she said, cannot exist where injustice thrives. A society where women live in fear cannot call itself peaceful. Questioning, not silence, defines a living society. Criticising what she termed “official peace,”
Taslima said institutions often celebrate power rather than justice, even pointing out that peace awards sometimes went to those responsible for destruction and suffering.
Books, she said, sought no medals and shook no hands with murderers. That is why extremists — especially religious extremists — fear books, ban them, and threaten writers. “When weapons divide, books connect. When weapons destroy, books create,” she said, while also noting how books can be misused, recalling how even Hitler justified cruelty through selective readings.
Taslima reflected on her 31 years of exile, the bans on her books in Bangladesh and West Bengal, and her blacklisting.
What sustained her, she said, were the thousands of letters from readers who found courage through her writing. She criticised governments for using religion as a tool of power, prioritising religious institutions over science and rational education.