Photo: Quota Reform Movement protest, July 6. Credit — Rayhan9d/Wikimedia Commons
On Aug. 5, 2024, after weeks of political uprising, police violence and repression of student activists, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League party, stepped down after 15 years of rule.
The political unrest began on June 5 with a high court ruling that reinstated the country’s quota system, which sets aside a certain percentage of government jobs for people from different categories. Students had massively protested against the quota in 2018, resulting in the government eliminating the freedom fighters’ quota, however in June it returned. While the quota system in its establishment had a historically progressive character, reserving government jobs for indigenous communities, women and people with disabilities in a similar fashion to affirmative action in the United States, the greatest point of contention was around the quota that mandated that 30% of all government jobs be reserved for family members of those who participated in Bangladesh’s national liberation struggle in 1971.
Protesting students from the University of Dhaka took to the streets for what is now popularly referred to as the “Quota Reform Movement.” The students demanded that nearly all quotas be dropped, arguing that the quotas for family members of the independence war constituted a form of institutionalized nepotism.
The protests took a sharp and violent turn after clashes between thousands of anti-quota student demonstrators and instigation from members of the student wing of Hasina’s Awami League party, the Chhatra League. Police fired rubber bullets, sound grenades, and tear gas to scatter protesters who also blocked railway tracks and major roads. A strict nationwide curfew, country-wide internet shutdowns, and “shoot-on-sight” orders were instated. There are reports of over 400 students and youth dead.
The state-sanctioned violence sparked nationwide and international outrage, both on the violence and illuminating popular opinion on the rule of the Awami League over the last 15 years. The protestors speak to the dissatisfaction with the Awami League government and cases of disappearances and repression against political dissent.
Student demands shift
In response to the escalating state repression, the student movement put forward a nine-point set of demands to the government, which included the Prime Minister publicly apologizing and taking responsibility for deaths of students during the protests, government ministers stepping down for their role in the violence, and dismissal of law enforcement officers who took part in the crackdowns.
Following inaction on these demands and continued repression from law enforcement, on Aug. 3 the student movement coordinators declared a national day of non-cooperation with the government and unified around a single demand that the ruling party step down to take accountability for the killings and the thousands of injured and arrested protesters.
The escalation of the movement clearly speaks to greater economic unrest in Bangladesh, at a time when 32 million young people are out of work or education out of a population of 170 million, against the backdrop of the climate crisis and a widening gap between the rich and poor.
A long history of struggle
The students of Bangladesh are no stranger to protest and political activity. The “language movement,” a popular uprising in 1952 demanding the recognition of Bengali as a national language, was largely anchored by the student movement, organizing general strikes and mass mobilizations. The language movement served as a catalyst and precursor to the Bangladeshi national liberation struggle in 1971.
Following the defeat of British colonialism, the Indian subcontinent went through a process of partition. A Muslim-majority state was created called Pakistan, united on the basis of religion as opposed to nationality. What is today Bangladesh was referred to as East Pakistan until 1971.
Today, Bangladesh is the eighth largest country in the world, with a population of about 170 million. It is situated in a part of South Asia that has become strategically important to the new Cold War the United States is pursuing against China.
The Bangladesh Liberation War came at a moment of anti-colonial revolt globally, with the USSR supporting the Bangladesh struggle for independence while the United States under the foreign policy of Henry Kissinger directly funneled weapons, arms and munitions to the Pakistani army, supporting the genocide and repression of Bangladeshis pursuing their national liberation, similar to the U.S. role in the genocide against the Palestinian people today. Bangladesh won its independence in December of 1971 and ratified a constitution the following year which declared that “a socialist economic system shall be established with a view to ensuring the attainment of a just and egalitarian society, free from the exploitation of man by man.”
Similar to many post-colonial states that pursued their independence along a socialist basis, this original intention for a socialist economic system has not come to fruition. Constant struggles against military dictatorships, starting with a military coup in 1975 that assassinated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh, paved the way for privatization of the economy and Bangladesh falling into a debt cycle with the IMF.
The road ahead
Following decades of increasing privatization and rising inequality, a movement anchored by millions of young people ousting a government that failed to fully address the deeper economic needs of the country gives many a warranted cause for celebration and serves as a reminder that it is the masses of people that are the motors of history.
These moments of political volatility and upheaval also open the door for new political forces to seize power, which may not necessarily be the same ones who are the most popular or were leading the masses of people in the streets. Rather, the ones that are the best organized have the highest degree of operational unity.
In Bangladesh, the right-wing opposition forces, political formations like BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, provide a political program that’s even more detrimental to the working class and the youth. They advocate for a politics of neoliberalism and privatization that serves the interests of the wealthy few and the multinational corporations that exploit Bangladesh’s cheap labor and natural resources for their benefit. They offer no political alternative that would increase the democratic engagement of people in the country or offer a path for the empowerment of workers, women and those from the most oppressed sectors of society. Their politics are directly complementary to the interests of global capital and the geostrategic interests of the United States in Asia.
Muhammad Yunus, a banker, has been announced as the new head of the interim government in Bangladesh. He is most widely known for his implementation of “microfinance” through Grameen Bank, for which he won a Nobel Prize. While institutions like the International Monetary Fund tout micro financing as a magical solution, a type of “kind capitalism” where loans would enable the recipients to become entrepreneurs and lift themselves out of poverty, it in practice serves as an extremely predatory practice that traps the poorest people in the Global South into deep poverty and debt, leaving them at the mercy of loan sharks.
Muhammad Yunus has also faced a litany of cases against him for violations of labor laws and consumer protections, the fact that warmongers and profiteers like Hillary Clinton were quick to come to his defense against these charges speaks volumes. Yunus represents a “reputable” face for the interests of the international capitalist class in plundering Bangladesh.
The United States and their junior partners in Europe have a keen interest in Bangladesh for their own imperialist interests. Bangladesh under the previous Awami League government did not enter into the U.S. “Quad” Alliance, essentially an offensive formation meant to encircle China. They refused to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and maintained positive relations with Russia. They also did not go ahead with alleged proposals by the United States to build a military base on Saint Martin Island as part of new Cold War efforts aimed against China. They also partook in the ICJ case led by South Africa against the Israeli genocide and occupation of Palestine, in stark contrast to the silence of much of the political opposition on the issue.
We oppose any and all attempts by the United States or other foreign powers to intervene in the domestic politics of Bangladesh. It is ultimately the right of the sovereign people of Bangladesh to determine their own destiny and pursue a path that will ensure a fully democratic and just society. Any appeals to the U.S. government to sanction, blockade, or interfere in the internal politics of Bangladesh are entirely misplaced. It is important to remember that it is the same U.S. government which actively opposed the independence of Bangladesh and is carrying out a genocide in Palestine among similar lines today.
