bangladesh student protest

Why Yunus Was Chosen to Course Correct in Bangladesh

He assumes charge as the prime minister of the interim government of Bangladesh at a time when there is general disgust in the country with political parties. Consequently, civil society groups have come to the fore.

The political orientation of Yunus and the respect he enjoys in civil society will be an asset to the interim government.

In Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh has the opportunity to shake off 15 years of autocratic rule with a new leader who gave opportunities to women to participate more fully in society.

One cannot think of a more qualified person to lead Bangladesh at the moment.

Yunus, a former university professor of economics, is the founder of the Grameen Bank. Dubbed the “Banker to the Poor”, he is better known now as a social entrepreneur and civil society leader than an academic.

Yunus is undoubtedly the most prominent face of Bangladesh civil society groups. It is no wonder then that there was near unanimity in choosing him as the head of the interim government.

He clearly has the support of the students who shed much blood overthrowing the Sheikh Hasina regime through the mass uprising they led.

His name was proposed by the leaders of the student protest with others accepting it enthusiastically.

Also Read: Bangladesh Interim Government Led by Muhammad Yunus Sworn in

No government, neither its police nor its military, is happy when they kill their own citizens, for reasons that seem not so convincing. It is not surprising then that the Bangladesh army refused to fire on its own people, asking Hasina to quit in view of the popular uprising.

The globally acknowledged initiative of Yunus, the Grameen Bank, owes its existence to the inability of the banking system to lend to the poor.

Yunus rebelled against his training in economics, when he found that the poor in Bangladesh work hard but cannot escape poverty because of their debt burden. Paradoxically, it is the poor who need credit, but no bank will lend to them.

At first, he borrowed money in his name and lent it to the poor. He found that the poor were indeed credit worthy. Then he experimented with a state-owned agricultural bank with similar results.

Finally, when he found that the state was unwilling to scale up microcredit to the poor, he founded his own social business – the Grameen Bank.

Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his microcredit revolution that brought women out of their homes to meaningfully participate in entrepreneurial activities.

Even though there are disputes regarding the effectiveness of microcredit for empowering the poorest, no one can deny that this is a secular and modern initiative that has empowered Bangladeshi women. It was opposed by conservative Islamists.

Yunus’s social entrepreneurship is considered pro-market. Given his international profile, the US and the European Union are likely to play a more significant role in the country than earlier.

In her quest to garner developmental funds, Sheikh Hasina was more comfortable deftly balancing China and India. The legacy of the estrangement of the US from Bangladesh may now be overturned.

The Chinese will try to find a place on the table. Now that India has courted Sheikh Hasina, it would do well to remember that it claims to be a strategic partner of the democratic West, which has reasons to worry about the rise of China. It cannot afford to appease the forces that the citizens of Bangladesh have overthrown.

The political orientation of Yunus will be an asset to the interim government. He had first returned to Bangladesh from an academic position in an economics department in the US, in the heydays following the birth of Bangladesh.

He was inspired by the idea of building a new nation led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Despite this orientation, he maintained a distance from both the significant political parties – the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party. In fact, the Awami League regime under Sheikh Hasina did not allow him any political room for manoeuvre and attacked him with corruption and tax charges.

Also Read: A Challenging Task Stretches Ahead for Bangladesh’s Next Leaders

Given this experience, one can safely conclude that Yunus will not favour Sheikh Hasina, even though he may not be opposed to the Awami League as a political party.

Although avowedly secular in a Muslim-majority nation, Sheikh Hasina destroyed the democratic consolidation that catapulted her to power in the first place. The general elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 did not allow the political Opposition any space to contest. These elections were systematically rigged.

The reasons for the collapse and ouster of the Hasina government are to be found largely within the regime.

Autocratisation meant that the representatives of the citizens became quite distant from them.

It also did not help that officials intimately involved with supporting the regime at a senior level were targeted for corruption. The prime minister and her associates proclaimed that they were fighting corruption, when corruption had become the very basis of the regime. Under such circumstances, even the officialdom may have lost interest in protecting the regime.

As the legitimacy of the regime crumbled from within, empty promises such as 30 percent reservation in government jobs for the children of freedom fighters of the Liberation War of 1971 sounded hollow.

With large scale unemployment staring them in the face, Sheikh Hasina, supporting job reservations, distanced herself from the students who demanded that all job quotas be abolished.

It was under these circumstances that the military stepped in after more than 500 men, women and children were killed in the anti-reservation protests. After weeks of turmoil, Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country. Her flight to India, unlike her father’s assassination and martyrdom, does not bode well for the Awami League.

It’s not clear whether a third major political party – other than the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party – can also emerge under the current circumstances. Yunus was interested in entering politics, a project that was viciously attacked by Sheikh Hasina. it is unlikely, however, that he might revive that project.

Previous interim governments have served like an independent election commission under military protection that have facilitated peaceful transfer of power in Bangladesh. This had contributed to democratic consolidation.

It is to be seen whether this Interim Government led by Dr Yunus will equal or even better the record of the previous ones.

This article first appeared on 360info.

Bangladesh’s Battle Between Democracy and Autocracy

The brutal crackdown on student protesters revealed the totalitarian aims of the prime minister and the resilience of belief in democratic freedoms.

The crisis in Bangladesh can be seen as a battle for the soul of Bangladesh’s political future.

On one side there is 76-year-old Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has not held genuinely free, fair and participatory elections for the past 15 years. She appears to want to drive Bangladesh from an autocracy to a totalitarian state.

In Hasina’s totalitarian vision of Bangladesh, she and her government will face no accountability, and if anyone protests, they will be met with a violent crackdown, including death, torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment.

Any violence against protesters will be justified on the grounds they are “anti-state”, “anti-independence” and “conspirators” who want to derail the dream of Hasina’s late father and the country’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, of a ‘golden Bengal’.

On the other side of the battle, there are hundreds and thousands of Bangladeshi students and political opponents who want accountable government and greater participation in the decision-making process. They want to exercise their democratic aspirations by demanding fairer access to government jobs — specifically through reform of the quota system for the Bangladeshi public service.

Over the past 15 years, Bangladeshis from all walks of lives have shown their resilience in the face of autocratic governance and have adopted innovative techniques to challenge it.

The current student pushback against Hasina’s totalitarian ambitions is an example of this ‘democratic bricolage’ — the creative ways in which the ideals of responsive government and popular participation are upheld and autocracy is contested.

In a previous round of protests in 2018, students demanded the abolishment of the 30% public service quota reserved for independence fighters and their descendants.

They argued that the veterans’ quota in the years immediately after independence in 1971 was justified, but after 50 years of independence it had become redundant and Hasina’s government was using the quota only to recruit party cadres. The 2018 protest led to the abolishment of the quota system.

However, it was reinstated this year, angering many students, who began to stage peaceful protests at universities around the country.

By protesting government decisions and holding rallies, the students showed they value democratic freedoms and their right to protest.

Hasina called the protesting students “razakars” — a derogatory term for those who sided with Pakistanis in carrying out atrocity crimes against Bengalis in the 1971 war for independence. The accusation angered protesters, who chanted slogans calling Hasina a dictator.

To quell the protests, Hasina’s government first deployed the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of Hasina’s Awami League party. Their indiscriminate, violent attacks involved sticks, guns and other weapons, and they made no effort to spare female students. In many instances, police were seen to support the Chhatra League and also to use physical force inside university campuses.

The students turned from peaceful protest to fighting back with violence. They allegedly set fire to the state television building in Dhaka, seen as the mouthpiece of the government.

Hasina deployed all the security forces — police, military, border guard, detective branch, and intelligence agencies — to squash the protests.

An internet blackout and a strict curfew were put in place, with a ‘shoot-on-sight’ order for offenders or unruly crowds.

The result is horrific. According to conservative estimates, about 200 people were killed, mostly students. Some victims were children. Students and some media sources reportedly put the real figure much higher. Media reports have claimed that helicopters were used to shoot at protesters, and UN officials have conveyed concerns that UN-marked vehicles were used in suppressing protests. The country’s own armed forces and border guards, who are supposed to defend the country’s border, were seen shooting at their own citizens.

Meanwhile, the government reduced the quota to 7% — 5% for descendants of veterans and 2% for members of ethnic minorities and people with disability or identifying as transgender.

That move can’t undo the brutality of the crackdown, which is unheard of in Bangladeshi history.

With the internet back up, in a limited capacity, the videos and photos that have emerged are harrowing. Unarmed civilians are seen being shot and left on the streets. Many lost limbs and even eyes.

Some of the student leaders of the protests were forcefully disappeared, tortured and coerced into compromising with the government.

However, while Hasina is seemingly re-establishing control over the streets, she will not be winning many hearts and minds.

The student leaders who were forcefully disappeared, tortured and later released, are not giving up. With broken voices, teary eyes and in obvious pain, they held a press conference and demanded Hasina accept responsibility for the mass killings of students and that she publicly apologise.

This is perhaps the greatest challenge to Hasina, because for so long she has avoided accountability.

Like any totalitarian leader, she considers herself the state, answerable to nobody.

In asking her to accept blame for the violence directed against her own citizens, the tortured and beaten students are demonstrating their democratic resilience.

They are showing that the battle to bring Bangladesh back to democracy is far from over.

Dr Mubashar Hasan is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, Norway. His research was funded by the Norwegian Research Council.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.

What Drove Bangladeshi Students to Storm the Streets in Protest?

While the demonstrators were forced out of the streets with brute force, a series of government missteps and irregularities instigated them to seek justice and progress.

Translator’s note: Mugabe, Franco and many others ruled nations for as long as 40 years. Nothing – agitators, writers, artists, protesters, foreign forces or economic downturn – could topple them. They managed to outwit their foes, vanquish any would-be nemesis. Writing did not threaten their tyranny either. Yet, all rulers fear and hate writing. It somehow makes them uncomfortable.

Here is an excerpt translated and adapted from Monowar Rubel’s Bangla August 12, 2018 article on Sara Bangla on the situation in Bangladesh following the week-long student protests for better road safety.

There is a suppressed anger among people. However, this rage may not be useful in the prevailing repressive conditions.

In line with the nation’s history, youth took to the streets. As Shahidul Alam alluded to in his Al Jazeera interview, the recent agitation was an eruption of bottled up resentment.

Their demands were just: to fix the malfunctioning quota system and take action against callous driving and lack of road safety on our streets.

The protests were spontaneous and school going students did not see any reason to fear protesting against an unjust, unequal system and demand action against perilous driving killing hapless commuters.

They took inspiration from mass movements of the past – the movements of 1952, 69, 71 and 1990 – in their week-long demonstration. While there political movements have been scant in recent times, the successive protests by the youth in recent months must make the government take notice.

Yes, the protests have been quelled. The situation, perhaps, is ‘under control’ and can be managed by the police. However, would this mean it would quench the next generation’s desire for justice? The political elders know better. In their youth, they had also faced such repression, overcoming it.

The government must instead look into the reasons behind the protests. What is bringing people to the streets?

If politicians’ claims of having delivered positive developments were true and palpable, people would be content. There have been some improvements, which are few and far between. Overall, people are dissatisfied and unhappy. This isn’t because the claimed rapid development has not touched their lives (although the urban middle class, the root of the protesting teens, may be discontent that our metropolises are not on par with those of our neighbours and other developed Asian cities). The majority of the population is still not urban and they too are unhappy.

Is the intense dissatisfaction then because of the disdainful, derisive and dismissive attitude of some government officials and ministers? Why would teens, who are not old enough to vote yet, be outraged?

Some would speculate it is because of the absence of democracy; people crave a right to choose their government. Some would argue that people desire freedom to speak and express opinions. Regardless, it is obvious that displeasure and discontent against the government continue to build up.

Students shout slogans as they take part in a protest over recent traffic accidents that killed a boy and a girl, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 4, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

The government’s numerous missteps

Over the past few months, the government has taken several missteps that are responsible for the people’s attitude toward the government. These include letting a well known drug dealer (Abdur Rahman Bodi, a lawmaker) leave the country, while executing a number of alleged drug dealers, in true Rodrigo Duerte style. Deliberately delaying the trials and litigation against large-scale corruption by big corporations (Hallmark) and big bankers is another issue leading to discontent.

The investigation report of the February 2016 Bangladesh Bank cyber heist, when US$1 billion was fraudulently withdrawn from the bank’s account, is being intentionally held back. Embezzlement of gold reserves from the bank, corruption and illegal dealing activities in the local stock market are also being swept under the carpet.

The education minister is unwilling to resign in spite of repeated leakage of board exam questions, leading to the education system’s collapse. Repeated denial of these leaks, and harassment of ordinary students at the hands of Chhatra League – the ruling Awami League’s student wing – is yet another misgiving. More recently, looting of the country’s coal reserves has also been alleged.

These are just a few instances of the government’s irregularities. Not only have these frauds occurred, the government leaders and ministers have in every case tried to defend them and condone the criminals.

Even if we ignore the one-sided, controversial election of 2014, the subsequent local and regional elections have also faced allegations of open rigging.

The government must consider if this generation is psychologically affected and deeply frustrated at not being able to exercise its voting rights.

Dissenting opinions are labelled as being “against the spirit of our Independence”. This has become a trend now, fostered by a cultured fraction of the ruling Awami League, which is a method to snub out any chance of introspection.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Credit: Reuters

A democratic tradition

Awami League has a tradition of democratic practices, at least within the party structure. Decisions of party leaders were questioned. Party members argued with leaders, even forcing them to change their decisions. As recent as 2007, supporters were able to force the party to overturn a decision to enter into an electoral alliance with religious parties.

This practice is now nonexistent. Anyone questioning the party’s decision is badgered as being anti-independence. Erstwhile leaders like Suranjit Sengupta or Obaidul Quader, who held press conferences highlighting the party’s mistakes, are nowhere to be found.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sacked Syed Abul Hossain from the cabinet; Golam Maula Rony was punished for beating a journalist; Abdul Latif Siddiqui was forced out amid criticism. But the unpopular education minister Nurul Islam Nahid or shipping minister Shajahan Khan still enjoy patronage. Shajahan Khan has a history of disrupting the government. A number of transport strikes at different times were his doing and bus-owners unions obey his orders.

The students have now left the streets. It is prudent now to address their grievances. Beating them and forcing them out of the street or persuading them to go home is hardly a long term solution.

Translated from the Bengali original by Rehuma Rahim, a political analyst.

Bangladesh: Police Cracks Down on Dangerous Driving After Student Protests

Tens of thousands of students have protested since last Sunday when a privately run bus hit and killed two teenagers.

Dhaka: Bangladesh police on Sunday began cracking down on dangerous driving as the government tried to quell student unrest sparked by the death of two teenagers mowed down by a bus a week ago.

Tens of thousands of students have protested since last Sunday when a privately run bus hit and killed the students, alarming the government ahead of a general election this year.

Several thousand students took to the streets for an eighth straight day on Sunday. Police fired tear gas at protesting students to disperse them from different points of the city.

“Our police force has started a week-long drive to bring discipline on the roads,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at an event in Dhaka on Sunday.

Spontaneous student protests are rare in Bangladesh, and Hasina suggested her political rivals were using the issue to stir up anti-government sentiment. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party denied any involvement in the protests.

On Sunday, students blocked roads and disrupted traffic, although they maintained emergency lanes for ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday warned that action would be taken against them if their protests become too disruptive.

“Everything has an optimum point, and if anyone crosses the limit action will be taken … so don’t cross the limit,” he said inaugurating traffic week in the city.

Separately, the US embassy said in a statement outgoing envoy Marcia Bernicat’s vehicle was attacked by armed men, some on motorcycles, in Dhaka on Saturday.

“The ambassador and her security team departed the area unharmed … however, two security vehicles sustained some damage,” it said in the statement issued on Sunday.

Police said they had not identified the attackers.

The protests spreading across Bangladesh have highlighted traffic risks in the densely populated country, where more than 4,000 people die in road accidents each year, one of the world’s highest rates, the World Bank says.

(Reuters)