The French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who recently revisited Bangladesh after forty-three years, delivered a public lecture at ULAB on 26 April, 2014. The text here is reproduced from the transcript of the lecture, with his kind permission. M. Levy was welcomed by Dr. Kazi Anis Ahmed, Vice-Chairman of the ULAB Board of Trustees, and introduced by M. Olivier Litvine, Director of the Alliance Francaise in Dhaka.)