This week Bangladesh celebrates the birth of its National Poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, better known as ‘Rebel Poet’. 117 years after his birth Nazrul’s writings remain works of great literature with significance for all of us. As the poet himself wrote ‘I don’t belong to just this country, this society. I belong to the world’. Bangladesh was born as a result of a struggle against intolerance and exclusion. Nazrul’s works have inspired generations to pursue freedom and equality. He was writing before the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with its statement that ‘all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’. He gave powerful voice to a passionate belief that every person has the right to realise their full potential, free of any form of discrimination. One of Nazrul’s great works is the poem ‘Nari’ (Women), condemning discrimination against women just because they were women; and in his other poems, Nazrul is urging an end to all forms of discrimination against people on whatever grounds. His writing is part of Bangladesh’s rich culture and long tradition of harmony, inclusion, diversity and tolerance across all divides.  l