25 years ago. a genocide in the name of nationalism was conducted by the Pakistani government and its army against the unarmed civilians of what is now Bangladesh. For women the consequences of genocide were more harrowing: they were also subjected to rape. An estimated 6,000 to 12,000 people were killed daily. Besides the indiscriminate killings, in the early and late stages of the nine month occupation, special sections of the population were targeted, teachers, writers, journalist, police.

Our independence owes us much to the freedom fighters with guns, as it does to the collective resistance of the men, women and children of our villages, towns and cities.

Many of us justifiably hate commemorations and find ridiculous the idea of memory summoning up fixed dates every ten, fifty or hundred years. Memory is an organic and continuous part of our conscience which feeds our thoughts and dreams, summoning us rather than we summoning it. In western countries commemoration of all sorts have often become a routine, a form of intellectual laziness relevant only to merchants who market gadgets, and magazines preparing covers six months in advance. While some of our collective memories are thrashed out in the media, others lack the text, images and voices needed to nurture them. This calendar aims to bring hack to the Bangladeshi public am important part of its visual memory. These photographs, bear the same scars that some of the people and places still do. It is at the same time a tribute to some of the major pioneers of photojournalism in Bangladesh. Gilles Saussier, photographic coordinator/Drik Picture Library.