By Omer Abdullah Khan
Like in other parts of the world, South Asia has also experienced significant social and political upheavals in recent years. This new wave of movements in the region began when Sri Lankan students and workers successfully ousted their corrupt and unpopular president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Since then, these movements have gradually spread across the entire region.
After decades of political stagnation, the working masses of South Asia, with youth playing a decisive role, have achieved two significant victories through great sacrifice. In Pakistan-administered Jammu Kashmir, the masses, led by youth at the forefront, defeated the entire neo-colonial state apparatus and secured the basic right to affordable electricity. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi students overthrew Sheikh Hasina’s one-and-a-half-decade-long authoritarian regime, forcing her to flee the country. As of this writing, Bangladesh has issued an arrest warrant for the tyrant, who is currently hiding in India (or may have fled to a country without an extradition treaty with Bangladesh).
In India, students and healthcare workers are rising up against the brutal rape and murder of a female doctor in Kolkata. At the same time, a new movement of resistance against national oppression, imperialist wars, exploitation and military operations in Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan (Pakistan) is steadily advancing. In addition to these movements, several minor and major rebellions—or potential fault lines—are spreading across the region, indicating possible eruptions of class struggle in the near future.
The masses have grown tired of the intensifying economic crisis, the historical failures of capitalist states and the neoliberal economic policies imposed by the IMF and other financial institutions. The reality of the bogus, mythical stories of growth and development crafted by neoliberal governments and international institutions has now come to light. Almost 60 to 70 percent of the population in this region is young, and they see no light of hope at the end of the tunnel; rather, under this system, the only light they see comes from another train rushing toward them.
On one hand, in response to the ongoing polycrisis of capitalism, global imperialist powers and their local lackey states have no option but to impose existing oppressive policies through brutal force, crushing any resistance with blood and steel. On the other hand, millions of toiling masses, especially the younger generation, see only one way out of this mayhem: fighting for a better future.
This situation is starkly illustrated by an incident in the recent Bangladeshi movement, where a youth boldly stood before the police, his chest exposed to their guns. Before embracing martyrdom, he endured three gunshots to the chest. Each time he fell, he rose again, defiantly offering himself to the guns. This image will be immortalized in history as a powerful metaphor of courage and resistance for the oppressed rising up against their oppressors.
The Bangladeshi movement has generated several powerful metaphors that resonate with millions of toiling masses worldwide. They share similar struggles and experiences and are more connected than ever before through social media. This movement has made a significant impact both within Bangladesh and beyond, and its lessons are poised to shape future class struggles, particularly in the region. We can already see glimpses of this influence in the current student protests in Pakistan.
Background
On July 10, the Bangladeshi Supreme Court reinstated the quota policy for 3,000 civil service jobs, which had been revoked by Sheikh Hasina in 2018. Under this policy, 56 percent of the positions were reserved: 30 percent for the children and grandchildren of families who participated in the War of Independence, and 26 percent for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and residents of backward districts. Despite the policy’s original intent, the former 30 percent quota has often been manipulated by Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League as a tool for political patronage and corruption, ensuring that their supporters are placed in key government positions and thereby maintaining their grip on power. Meanwhile, educated Bangladeshi youth face a dire lack of reasonable job opportunities, with nearly 400,000 young graduates competing for just 3,000 civil service jobs each year. As a result, students revolted against the discriminatory policy. This phenomenon also highlights the fraudulent claims of neoliberal economic growth, as the so-called success story of Bangladesh is underscored by the reality that young, educated individuals are desperate enough to die for merely 3,000 jobs.
Organization
The students rejected the Supreme Court’s decision and quickly mobilized into protests—a rapid organization that was not merely coincidental but a continuation of the 2018 student uprising against the same quota policy. At that time, Sheikh Hasina was compelled to revoke the policy under the pressure of the movement, a victory that too came at the cost of countless lives. During that movement, the Bangladesh Saharoun Chhatra Odhikar Sogrokkhon Parishad (Bangladesh General Students’ Rights Protection Council), commonly known as BSRC, emerged as a key leadership group.
Now, six years later, following the reinstatement of the policy by the Supreme Court, students not only brought with them the lessons learned from past struggles but also leadership. The recent movement was led by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM), which comprised a 23-member committee of coordinators, including Nahid Aslam and Asif Mehmood. The latter are now the faces of the movement and have also been appointed as advisors in the interim government. Both Nahid and Asif are 26-year-old students at Dhaka University and serve as office bearers of Gotantrik Chatra Shakti (GCS), with Nahid as the General Secretary and Asif as the Convener of the Dhaka University Unit. GCS is a center-left organization that previously split from the BSRC. Notably, 9 out of the 23 coordinators in the ADSM committee were affiliated with GCS. In addition to GCS, several other left-leaning progressive and revolutionary factions contributed to this committee (which later expanded to 159 members, maintaining a dominant progressive trend within the movement).
Reactionary propaganda and reality
It is important to note that the Indian state, fearing the momentum of the movement, and certain Stalinist factions, feeling excluded, have engaged in spreading malicious propaganda against it. They have gone to great lengths to assert that the movement is entirely under the control of fundamentalists, claiming that Bangladesh is on the verge of becoming another Afghanistan. The propaganda efforts of the Pakistani state and Jamaat-e-Islami—the classical Islamist party in both Pakistan and Bangladesh—have also contributed to this narrative.
Indeed, there was a time during the movement when Sheikh Hasina fled the country, and the state seemed to vanish from the streets. During this period of uncertainty, fundamentalist groups attempted to exploit the situation, vandalizing statues and memorials of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and heroes of the War of Independence. There were also attempts to attack Hindu temples. However, the leadership of the movement swiftly took charge of security arrangements by forming committees across the country to protect these sites and maintain order. Since then, not a single such incident has been reported.
This was also the time when social media videos emerged showing young students, including women, taking control of traffic in Dhaka and other cities. While these actions may have appeared somewhat symbolic, they carried profound significance. They indicated that if the youth—crushed by the ruthlessness of an obsolete system—were given the opportunity, they could harness their energy and power to usher in a new spring of life and prosperity for a planet marred by decay and despair. One can only pity those who believe that regressive forces, like Jamaat-e-Islami, can dominate a movement where women have played such a significant role on the front lines.
Gains, limitations and significance
While the liberation movement of 1971 did not fully transition into a socialist revolution and the dire conditions for Bangladeshi workers often worsened, it still brought about significant political and ideological gains. Among these achievements was the defeat of fundamentalism and the creation of a more cohesive Bangladeshi national identity that worked to minimize ethnic and religious divides. A poignant example of this unity occurred when, following attempts to attack Hindu temples, thousands of Hindu students and citizens protested in Dhaka, chanting, “Who are we? Bengali, Bengali!” and thousands of Muslim youths joined them in solidarity.
Although the utter defeat of the Awami League, the longstanding traditional party of Bangladesh, has provided an opening for the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), a center-right party with ties to fundamentalism, the chances of Bangladeshi society devolving into total reaction or allowing fundamentalism to take hold are almost non-existent—at least for the time being. In fact, under the current conditions of the movement, even gaining power will not be easy for the BNP, let alone fully overrunning society with fundamentalist ideology.
Both student leaders of the movement currently in the interim government have emphasized that their primary purpose is to conduct elections and ensure a peaceful transfer of power. However, they believe that this process should not occur without necessary structural reforms, particularly within the election commission, to prevent another rise of authoritarianism.
On the other hand, the student movement and its leadership are also seeking more time before elections to build a political party. If the students can effectively come up with appropriate class demands, develop a radical program and create a reasonable strategic approach, they could successfully unite with the working class, leading to significant outcomes in the upcoming elections. However, the likelihood of this happening appears slim.
Students have the capacity to spark a political upheaval within the working class, but to advance effectively, the leading role of the latter is essential. Although the working class did eventually join the movement to some degree, their involvement has largely been as a mass rather than as a class and an organized political force. A new political party is certainly on the horizon, but if it remains confined to student leadership, it will face inherent limitations.
Another insidious piece of propaganda against the movement is the claim that the deployment of Dr. Yunus—a blue-eyed poster boy of Western imperialism and global neoliberal bureaucracy—as chief advisor to the interim government indicates a collaboration with imperialist forces. This narrative is further fueled by Hasina Wajid’s recent statement, in which she suggested that her ousting was a consequence of her refusal to allow a US military base in the country, portraying the entire movement as a US conspiracy.
First and foremost, no force in the world, including the CIA, can artificially instigate a movement where tens of thousands of young people are willing to sacrifice their lives for a cause. Movements do not erupt according to the desires or ideals of subjective elements. At least in the early stages, the subjective factors—whether revolutionary or reactionary—can at best provide only a temporary push. Furthermore, even if the aspirations of imperialist powers or internal reactionary forces align with the interests of a mass movement at certain points, it does not mean that the movement is under their control.
During the evolution of societies, driven by class struggles and historical events, many factors beyond the subjective element contribute to the emergence, setbacks and advancements of movements. Therefore, apart from the subjective element, which is an absolutely necessary factor for a successful socialist revolution, movements also have an objective development of their own that is independent of personal desires. Thus, it is not the role of revolutionaries to engage in mindless labeling of movements not under their leadership. Instead, the most important question they should focus on at all times is how to intervene in these movements, increase their numbers and influence, and channel the rebellious energy of the masses in a revolutionary direction.
It is true that the recent movement became confined to students, which limited its scope to petty bourgeois democratic aspirations. This is evident in the demand for Dr. Yunus to be made chief advisor to the interim government. He is nothing more than a scammer and a stooge of the neoliberal imperialist order. As a banker, he was awarded a Nobel Prize for the idea of microfinance as a solution to poverty, which essentially was a fraud that only enriched him and his banker friends at the expense of the poor. Ironically, the current conditions in Bangladesh are a direct consequence of the very policies he supported or implemented in the past.
But the students—especially those who belong to petty bourgeois backgrounds and have the opportunity to attend universities—are influenced by figures like Dr. Yunus, Abdul Sattar Edhi and other philanthropists and reformist personalities. These figures, constantly imposed upon them by the ruling classes through media and curricula, weigh heavily on their consciousness, especially in times when the working class is passive and weak from organizational and ideological standpoint. Student leaders like Asif and Nahid believe they can achieve people-friendly democratic and economic reforms within the existing system. However, this youthful idealism, despite some temporary victories, will inevitably clash with harsh material realities. While imperialist and local rulers may be temporarily subdued, they will not miss any opportunity to punish students for rebelling against the system.
Despite having won freedom through countless sacrifices, the state in Bangladesh remains capitalist, and its character continues to uphold class society through oppression and exploitation. In these conditions, the realities of the historical downfall of the system and the treachery of the ruling class will become apparent sooner rather than later. Before anyone else, it will be revealed to the more advanced and ideologically mature layers of students that anything such as “humane capitalism” cannot exist in the current time and space, and that this system, with the exception of a privileged minority, can offer only poverty, death, oppression and humiliation to humanity.
The overall economic conditions in Bangladesh are constantly degrading. A movement is brewing in the working class against IMF programs, privatization, austerity measures, rising electricity prices, inflation, unemployment, declining wages and precarious working conditions, expressing itself intermittently through various strikes and protests. While the current student movement is set to leave significant lessons for future movements both in and outside Bangladesh, it will also undoubtedly push the working class to advance on the stage of history.
When the gigantic proletariat of Bangladesh, responsible for producing over 50 percent of the world’s textile output, mobilizes, it will not only transform the political landscape of South Asia but also send shockwaves throughout the entire world.