From Suffering Tyranny to Self Immolation: How a Nation Imploded after Decades of Abuse

After the chaotic ouster of the Authoritarian government, Bangladesh finds itself grappling with mob lynchings and religious and ethnic violence. The rule of law must be established first before addressing other pressing concerns.

It has been over a month since the historic overthrow of the Awami League regime. Much has happened since, following a new leadership taking the helm and trying to restore order to the nation. The sentiments of the masses have been running very high after fifteen years of witnessing numerous injustices and complete apathy from the former regime. People of Bangladesh, especially those who were not among the privileged beneficiaries of the past government, are akin to survivors of a deeply one-sided, abusive and parasitic relationship. This essay is a reflection of decades of pent-up helplessness, witnessing violations of human rights, total neglect of abject income inequality, and complete wreckage of the economy, as well as how we moved from one uncertain trajectory to another.

A Rude Awakening and a Moment of Disillusionment

Shortly before the abdication of Sheikh Hasina, at the height of everyone’s outrage, a video surfaced online where the Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan was met by a cricket fan in Canada. The fan is seen asking him why he chose not to use his platform to speak out against all the violence done against students during the protest. To that, Shakib Al Hasan is seen brazenly retorting, “What have you done for your country?”  — a very interesting rhetorical question from the nation’s household name. It was a deeply sobering moment for Bangladeshi people to whom Shakib’s status has been almost sacred.

A little over a week ago, leaked messages surfaced on a WhatsApp group called ‘Alo Ashbei’, which consisted of artists, celebrities, models, filmmakers (and other less relevant elements of the value chain). On the group, very candid messages have been seen and sparked discourse across social media. One of the more notable messages was from actress Aruna Biswas, who suggested ‘pouring hot water’ on the student protestors while the movement was ongoing.

The movement and its outcome, if anything, should be a wake-up call for a nation where hero worship is almost akin to idolatry.

 While, according to history, we are supposedly living in the most peaceful era in human history, conflict is a never-ending, never-changing companion. The nature of conflict evolves even if conflict itself remains a similar, ever-voracious entity. It has changed from an affair of men with weapons on both sides to a highly intricate network of politicians, political spokespeople, influencers, micro-influencers, macro influencers, nano influencers, sports people, celebrities, your neighbours who are probably spying on whether your underage daughter covers her head, and whoever that is listening to your calls.

July 2024 is one for the history books. It is the month students of Bangladesh launched a protest against a highly controversial quota system. The movement got minimal news coverage, with a nationwide blackout of the internet and other media. In the darkness of dysconnectivity, there was violence on the streets, with casualties reportedly going into the thousands. At this point, it is doubtful whether the true human cost of this protest will ever come to light.

Abject denial and aggressive deflection of atrocities have been a staple of violent aggressors with media under their control. In their talking points, they would repeatedly dehumanise their rivals and be dismissive of the loss of civilian life. We have seen their spokespeople in global media show zero remorse, crocodile tears and fake outrage to have their way. In Bangladesh, it seems like the powers that be have been taking notes.

Being a Bangladeshi is like being in a deeply abusive relationship. You are expected to lower your expectations constantly and still be disappointed year after year. It is like dying twice. Yet the powers that be will not leave a page unturned to mock your plight and your intelligence. For any average person, is it unreasonable for them to ask for a little more from a nation that’s already out to smother and crush them? If not from poorly regulated traffic laws, then by air pollution. If not by starvation, then from formaldehyde in fish. Such is inequality in this near feudal hellscape that even asking is branded as treachery. What are people to do?

Narcissistic Mind Games of the Past Regime

The reader may or may not be reminded of someone from their lives. It could be a parent, a lover, a spouse, a sibling or even their superior at the workplace, putting them through the uncomfortable process of being made to constantly doubt their sanity. A very indispensable tool used by narcissists to retain a firm grip on their victims. Some of the most common steps they do these can be broadly grouped into the following:

• Repetition, dismissal and lying through exclusion: Throughout the last few weeks, all government representatives tried to frame the students conducting the protest to have been infiltrated by other opposition parties. An example of this can be seen in a leaked letter to the United States High Commissioner for Human Rights. The same talking points can be seen coming from other party members and the media. There is little to no focus on the numerous deaths, disappearances and injuries.
• Ruthless aggression in response: There is extensively documented evidence of aggression by the student wing of the government and the police. There have been attempts to contain the movement by force and through unlawful abduction of citizens, including children. There have been reports of helicopters open firing from across rooftops, even claiming the life of a child who was playing on the rooftop. This has sustained and steadily escalated in an effort to wear out students through attempts on their lives, with more and more casualties who were not even a part of the protests.
• Wearing away support systems: The internet blackout was a blatant attempt to share any recordings or documentation for the protest to properly organise and go forward. It was also an obvious attempt to avoid the visibility of the police and military presence, use of force against people of all ages, forced disappearances and mass graves.
• Performative sympathy-mongering: While the death toll climbs and hospitals seem to be missing their registry of deaths, our leading figures have not stopped appearing on various media in tears. The tears were shed not for the students who were butchered while peacefully protesting but very pointedly at the vandalism of the Metro rail stations. This form of selective outrage and crocodile tears is deeply insulting to watch, whether or not you support this government. It is blatant dehumanisation of protesters, which is also being rampantly done to people in the Middle East.
• Misinformation and Division: After the abdication of Hasina, there was a period of heavy criticism from Indian media against the protests in Bangladesh, further fanned by the rise of communal violence, which accompanied the complete fall of law and order. However, it was still difficult at that point to determine the extent of communal violence as people took it upon themselves to guard Hindu places of worship to prevent communal violence in their own neighbourhoods. Indian reporting on the protests at the time was biased and often in favour of AL, painting an image of the protests as militant in nature, which was not a reflection of what really happened.
• Deflection of guilt: It is worth a look at how Sajeeb Wazed Joy addressed the nation shortly after Sheikh Hasina’s flight to India. In an interview with Indian media, he calmly and dismissively presented the Awami League as victims, protestors and aggressors, referring to them as militants. He boldly claimed that Bangladesh would become the next Pakistan, with a complete breakdown of law and order at the moment. He very brazenly called the people of Bangladesh ungrateful for their efforts and the fact that Bangladesh would become Pakistan in this state. With remarkable dramatic effect, he wishes the country ‘Good luck’ Maybe in a not-so-distant future, there will be another blockbuster movie on this protest with this exact conversation with Joy voiced as a footnote, with a star behind it who is also hopeful for a plot of land from Rajuk.

Those who had been accessing the internet from abroad were treated to a very different narrative, one of fingers being pointed at the students. How dare they deny the legitimacy of freedom fighters’ right to opportunities for their descendants? They must be no different from the traitors of 1971.

A Distorted Reality for the Survivor Navigate through Murky Waters Ahead

Over the past few decades, Bangladesh has not had an easy journey towards becoming a middle-income nation. It has been racking up its unlikely victories in the face of insurmountable odds. Despite the disappearance of USD 81 Million from Bangladesh Bank reserves, flyovers have been built on top of flyovers across the capital. The decade-long dream of the Padma bridge has come to fruition, even though on an odd rainy night, electrical wiring may split and land on the flooded street, electrocuting a dozen people to death. Regrettable, but a small price to pay towards the bigger picture.

But what bigger picture exactly are we working towards? It remains a question of USD 81 million. For an average household in the country, it is now a luxury to buy meat or fish. Every other week, there is a scandal on social media exposing an elite with the resources to purchase livestock for a price that could bring Sri Lanka out of bankruptcy. In the end, amidst all the vengeful fanfare of this rare mob justice, the food delivery boy still goes home at 2 AM hungry, while the aforementioned social elite can quickly get a haircut as a disguise and retreat to their penthouse in the West. In the end, it is their world. You and I are just living in it.

Being a Bangladeshi is like being in a deeply abusive relationship. You are expected to lower your expectations constantly and still be disappointed year after year. It is like dying twice. Yet the powers that be will not leave a page unturned to mock your plight and your intelligence. For any average person, is it unreasonable for them to ask for a little more from a nation that’s already out to smother and crush them? If not from poorly regulated traffic laws, then by air pollution. If not by starvation, then from formaldehyde in fish. Such is inequality in this near feudal hellscape that even asking is branded as treachery. What are people to do?

The Mob Rules while Minorities Continue to Suffer Persecution

At the time of writing this, the new interim government is working towards restoring law and order. There has been a slew of arrests of prominent allies of the former government, with news breaking every other day regarding crimes committed and astronomical sums of money laundered out of the country. Whether justice is ensured and reparations made remains to be seen. Pressure on the government remains immense as prices of goods still remain very high, and there is currently reportedly a surge in load shedding across the country.

At this very delicate moment in time, however, there are instances of mobs taking the law into their hands. Since the overthrow of the Awami League, there has been a spike in mob violence, with up to two dozen lives claimed in the last 40 days. The safety and security of the people of Bangladesh were already dire, with mob violence being prevalent, and as of now, there seems to have been no improvement. Assailants in the latest attack include participants of the student protests from a month prior, who brutally beat a man to death. Elsewhere in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, hundreds of houses and shops have been set on fire, along with the Buddhist Temple. This reportedly happened due to a clash between Bengali people and national minority communities at Boalkhali of Dighinala district in Khagrachhari. This clash also occurred due to a group protesting the killing of a person from a mob beating.

Trust the Process, or is Another Change in Order?

In any organisation, 20% of the employees are responsible for 80% of productivity. Similarly, in agile development processes, when developing a solution, for example, a web portal, it is also a common phenomenon that only 20% of the requirements often cover 80% of the use cases. Understandably, the interim government is stretched to its capacity. However, there will be increased scrutiny of decisions made. Now is an excellent time to prioritise on the part of the government, especially with limited resources at hand, how law and order can be restored in the country first and foremost.

The interim government needs to identify the top 20% of the pressing concerns nationwide, and solving them systematically is likely to alleviate 80% of the problems faced by everyday people. It is a bold claim to make. I am only going by my instinct of having worked in tech. I am aware politics is much more nuanced than building tech, but the interim government really needs to get its priorities in order.

We are at a point in time where we are literally watching wars happen on live stream, and the whole student protest in Bangladesh was a rare moment of people from all walks of life in Bangladesh coming together, sharing footage, information, news and resources within their networks to keep everyone else informed.

The interim government needs to find a way to harness this capability of crowdsourcing information (and fact checks) in collecting and verifying data and cracking down on culprits of mob violence. This is an opportunity for the interim government to stamp its authority on the law and order situation before it can get around to solving other pressing problems.