A student movement wants to conquer Bangladesh

Dhaka’s university campuses are usually peaceful places, far from the noise of city traffic. Jahangirnagar University’s buildings are located in the middle of the jungle forests of the Bay of Bengal, where the youth can exchange ideas and train for their future in the tea rooms. Dhaka University also has large parks designed to provide the same peace and seclusion.

Until a few days ago, few would have believed that the youth of these universities would flood the streets of the capital and launch a major uprising that would soon spread across the country and trigger an unprecedented crisis that would put the current Awami League government in dire straits.

Since the uprisings began last week, the government has imposed a curfew and deployed paramilitary forces to contain the protests, with more than a hundred people reportedly killed.

How did it start?

The current movement was triggered by a Supreme Court ruling by Prime Minister Sheik Hasina’s government to reinstate the quota system for government jobs, which had been on hold since 2018 following a wave of protests against it. The quota system stipulates that 30 percent of the limited quotas are reserved for family members of the heroes of Pakistan’s 1971 War of Independence. According to the students, admission should be based on merit, i.e. on the basis of the best results in competitive exams. After the government’s decision to reinstate the quota, anger was not long in coming.

Thousands of students from all universities spontaneously poured into the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong and other cities. From the universities of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar, Rangpur and Cumilla, the youths staged sit-ins on the main streets of the capital of 30 million inhabitants. The movement quickly spread to other cities; universities in the interior of the country took part as did students.

The government responded to these protests with massive repression. Hasina activated her repressive apparatus, which used tear gas at every protest point and beat students with sticks. But she also sent thugs from her student group, the Chhatra League, armed with machetes – some even with guns – to beat up the students, many of whom were women.

A turning point was last Monday, July 15, when at least 6 people were killed and 500 injured in street fighting. The protests intensified after Hasina told students that they were “Subscribe to”, a term used for war criminals and collaborators of Pakistan during independence.

All existing student organizations have joined the mobilizations; the movement is not associated with any particular party. In response to the repression, the protests have only grown. Other sectors have also joined the students’ demands, such as the doctors’ union and some from the textile sector, which is strategic for the country, such as the Bangladesh Garment Workers’ Trade Union Confederation (GWTUC).

Beyond quotas

The students’ protests are profound because they strike at the core of the state power of Sheik Hasina and her party, the Awami League. As mentioned, a third of government jobs are reserved for the children of those who fought for the country’s independence in 1971. Some are also reserved for women, ethnic minorities and the disabled. But the complaint is that the government is establishing, in the words of the students, a “dictatorship” by monopolizing a large portion of public sector jobs.

In their view, the system unfairly favors the children of pro-government party supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won her fourth consecutive election in January 2024. The prime minister is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, widely seen by Bangladeshis as the founder of the country after its independence. Rahman was killed in the 1975 military coup that bolstered support for Bangladesh’s other major political family, the Zias, who lead the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Hasina has sheltered behind the cloak of extreme independence hero vindication to tackle political opposition from the right and left.

Bangladesh has experienced strong, sustained growth (6% per year) over the past decades, driven by the textile sector, real estate investment and public works projects. However, structural problems such as unemployment and extreme poverty among the majority of its 170 million people have worsened. Since 2022, the country has faced a sharp economic slowdown.

Against this background, the student protests point to the crisis that is making it difficult for young people to access employment. After completing their studies, Bangladeshis face a bottleneck when it comes to finding a job: According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), between 1.8 and 1.9 million young people enter the job market every year. Competition is fierce. Many work abroad to send money to their families. At the same time, many young people become street vendors and sell pancakesCigarettes or street food like Alu Poori, began and tea.

In addition, many have to pay a “bribe” to the police to “guard” their shops. According to the Bangladesh Street Vendors Federation, each street vendor has to pay a bribe, which they call a “toll,” of 300 taka per day. This means that about 30 billion taka are collected in “toll” annually.

On the other hand, after graduating from a private university, many are forced to take jobs with a low monthly salary of only 10,000 to 12,000 taka (US$80 to US$100). This is partly the case for garment workers who are fighting for a minimum wage of 23,000 taka (about US$200 per month) and are also campaigning for an improvement in their intolerable working conditions.

These crises are exacerbated by the fact that in Bangladesh, studying at any educational institution is also dependent on material resources. Hundreds of thousands of students drop out of primary, secondary and high school every year due to poverty. Working-class families do not have sufficient opportunities to offer their children a better alternative.

Faced with the explosive anger of a generation left behind, Sheik Hasina’s government has shut down the country’s internet and communications and deployed the army to crush the protests. The government has raided the offices of opposition parties and closed the entire education system. In effect, a state of emergency has been declared.

Since the protests began, the GWTUC has expressed its solidarity, but “it is likely that we will call for a strike in the textile sector to oppose the dictatorship.” Although there is enormous union fragmentation in the textile sector, the GWTUC has played an important role in the struggle for improvements in working conditions over the past decades. The active participation of the textile unions could quickly twist the government’s arm and radicalize the movement.

There are countless textile factories between the Savar district and downtown Dhaka. On his daily bus ride, Kais, a student at Jahangirnagar University, says: “The working class is tired; they will join the protest movement very soon.” For him, if this were to happen, it would “probably be the beginning of the end of Hasina and the Awami League.”

This article originally appeared in The Izquierda Diario on 16 July 2024.

Translated by Sou Mi