WORLD WORLDWIDE BANGLADESH - news journal - UPDATE - (en) Bangladesh, CNT-AIT: People's uprising against an autocratic state: The present, past and future of Bangladesh (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As I am writing this statement, I don't know the whereabouts of most of
my comrades who participated in the ongoing protest of students in
Bangladesh. All I know is that they were on the streets, trying to fight
back against the police, against the fascist goons of the autocratic
party. As only people from some parts of Bangladesh have regained
internet access after five days of state- ordered nationwide internet
blackout, connecting to people back home from abroad has been tough. As
new photos and news unveil the unprecedented violence of the police,
where they are torturing and killing unarmed people, I go through
feelings of anguish and anger. I think about my comrades back in the
country, but it's not only about them, it's about the entire country. I
only know that my comrades are part of the resistance where thousands of
others joined, where people are protesting against the fascist and
autocratic state, which has killed at least 197 people, detained
hundreds, and left thousands injured in the hospitals.

All of this started with a peaceful protest by the students and
government job seekers in demand for quota reformation. The quota system
in Bangladesh reserves 30% of the jobs for the descendants of the
freedom fighters who took part in the liberation war against Pakistan in
1971. This 30% quota leaves most general people with very little chance
to secure a government job. The problem of unemployment and recent
economic crises have made government jobs very competitive, and most
people consider this 30% quota discriminatory and unfair. Even though
the ruling party describes the quota system as a way to show respect to
the family of freedom fighters, in reality, the ruling party used it to
have an obedient group of people in bureaucracy.

First of all, the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 against Pakistan
was a people's war; people from all walks of life helped the freedom
fighters through various means. Second, many of the poor freedom
fighters belonging to the working class couldn't manage any certificate
of being freedom fighters. Third, there have been claims of corruption
and nepotism in issuing freedom fighter certificates by the ruling
party. So, this 30% quota allows the government to consolidate their
power. Furthermore, reserving 30 % of government jobs for the third
generation of freedom fighters, which is less than 5% of the population,
stands against the central ethos of the liberation war: equality,
freedom, and justice.

As anarchists, we supported the just demand of the students. Still, we
also believed that mere quota reformation could not solve the problem of
the capitalist economy maintained by an autocratic ruling party.
However, things escalated when the government responded to the peaceful
protest with unparallel violence from police and their fascist goons.
The state violence against protesters completely transformed the current
movement. Before, moving to this part of the current stage of the
movement, it's necessary to describe the current political scenario of
Bangladesh.

For the past 16 years, Bangladesh has been ruled by Prime Minister
Sheikha Hasina and her party, Awami League. Even though they first came
to power by gaining an electoral majority, they soon became an
autocratic party and retained state power through three rigged or staged
general elections. Furthermore, Sheikh Hasina and her party boast of
being the only party in favor of the spirit of liberation war. In
reality, they have appropriated the spirit and gains of liberation war
from the masses. They have tried to portray the liberation war from only
a nationalistic perspective while it was a peoples' war led by
aspiration for equality, freedom and justice. Post-independence, the
class characteristics of the state did not transform, as one group of
domestic rulers just replaced another group of foreign rulers. The state
apparatus and legal systems also continued to carry the legacy of the
Pakistani and British colonial ruling system. Awami league in their last
16 years of rule has utilized all of these organs of the state ruling
system to wipe out opposing views. They have justified it by using their
nationalistic rhetoric and tagging everyone else as anti-liberation force.

Even though Bangladesh has achieved high GDP growth in the past decade,
it mainly came through the expense of cheap labor in readymade garment
sectors and exporting of low skilled labor in middle east. Both of these
groups have suffered from inhumane working conditions. While the
collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1134 people in 2013, managed to
gain coverage in international media, other killings from fire and
police crackdown have gone unnoticed. The government has cracked down on
many labor unions (including the abduction of a union leader), took
control of most of the other labor unions, and banned union activity in
some areas. Even in the last year, garment workers were killed and
arrested for demanding an increase in minimum age. Recently,
Bangladesh's economy has been facing a crisis as its short-term
development strategy of borrowing money is having repercussions.
Imperialist and expansionist powers such as the United States, China,
and India consider Bangladesh to be a geopolitical region of interest.
India, the country that shares borders with Bangladesh, has been most
influential in the politics of Bangladesh as they offer the government
"legitimacy" to the West in exchange for contracts that only satisfy the
interest of Indian government. Although the ruling party has managed to
be reelected for another time without a fair or inclusive election,
people are suffering from unemployment, inflation, inequality, and
oppression by the ruling party.

The current economic condition and lack of fundamental human rights have
created mass discontent among the people of Bangladesh, especially the
youth. However, the government, ruled by Hasina, after the recent
re-election, considered it to be virtually unchallenged in continuing
its regime of corruption and exploitation. So, when the students started
peaceful protests for a fair quota system that would prioritize merit,
the ruling party resorted to violence. First, they employed the students
league, the fascist foot soldiers of the ruling fascist party. They
mercilessly beat students and protesters and even attacked them in
hospitals. However, this time, the students soon created resistance and
managed to regain control of the dormitories from this fascist student
wing for the first time in 16 years of Awami rule. Then, the government
called the police force to stop the protest who used brutal measure and
started killing protesters on July 16. That failed to stop the
resistance, and it only grew in numbers. The coordinators of the
movement called for a complete shutdown of all public activities in the
following days.

On July 18, the police and ruling party goons used unforeseen levels of
violence as they attacked students protesting inside and in front of
universities and high schools. However, the students showed immense
courage and tried to fight back. They organized themselves, coordinated
with each other and used their limited resources to hit back against the
state violence. In different areas, the foot soldiers of the regime and
the police force were compelled to leave the area as the protesters
fought back. The government also multiplied violence in response and
went on a killing spree. By the afternoon of July 18, confirmed news of
the killing of many University and high school students were circulated
on social media. Mass people started joining the movement, and violent
clashes took place between the ruling party and the angry protesters and
mob. Later that day, the government completely blocked internet access
to the entire country to quell the protest. That did not succeed, and
protesters continued to resist the next day, July 19. Members of
different political parties also joined the movement at this point, but
the participation of the mass people and students continued. The armed
forces shot and killed at least 70 protesters that day. Most of the
people killed were students, but photographers, rickshaw pullers;
transportations workers were also killed. 2 policemen were also killed
by the protesters during the clash. From Friday night, the government
enacted a curfew and employed the military. However, clashes and death
were also reported on Saturday.

As only some of Bangladesh regained internet access after 5 days of
internet blackout from government, it's difficult to obtain reliable
news. The media operating within the country is heavily controlled by
the government. The government is also not providing any information on
the number of deaths, nor is it allowing medical officials to do so.
There have been claims of police seizing death registers from hospitals.
According to one leading newspaper in Bangladesh, at least 184 people
have been killed in the ongoing protest. However, the actual number is
estimated to be way higher. People and news reporters state that they
haven't witnessed such a massive scale of violence in years. Photos and
videos are emerging where we can see piles of dead bodies lying on the
floor of a hospital, the police continuously shooting at unarmed people
from point-blank range. As reported by DW news, UN vehicles for
peacekeeping missions have also been used by the armed forces to attack
protesters in Bangladesh.

Aside from resistance on the ground, the youth are rejecting and tearing
down every narrative of the fascistic party and the authoritarian state.
The mass people of Bangladesh have shown immense solidarity with the
student movement as they view it as a rightful resistance against the
autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina. Local people provided free food and
shelter and helped the injured people to reach hospitals. People have
expressed mass disobedience and non-cooperation with the state during
the movement. The working-class people have shown incredible solidarity
with the students in the protest. They have actively supported them and,
in some areas, participated with the students. During the movement, the
students used various tactics of direct action and mutual aid that
helped them to resist successfully.

On July 21, the supreme court gave a verdict in favor of quota reform.
Even though the suggested distribution reduces the quota for freedom
fighters' descendants which the protesters demanded, it also reduces the
quota for disadvantaged groups of citizens, which is unfair.
Furthermore, after the mass killings in the past week, the situation has
gone well past quota reformation, and a large number of people now
demand the resignation of the Prime minister Sheikh Hasina. However,
through controlling media, communication, and excessive force, the
government has retained some ground. The police have detained hundreds
of students. One of the coordinators was also abducted and tortured by
the armed forces. The government is trying to portray that things are
getting normal, and soon they will probably have to resume internet
connection in the entire country and bring an end to the curfew as
businesses are going through heavy losses due to shut down. When the
internet gets back, the coordinators and protesters will have to face a
tough battle against an unmasked dictatorship that has blood of hundreds
of people in its hand.

I don't think that Bangladesh can go back to being normal again after
this killing spree and violence of the ruling party. The people of
Bangladesh must decide if totalitarianism by a fascist party will be the
fate of the country or will people regain their power. The movement,
which started as a protest for fair opportunity in jobs, has transformed
into a mass uprising against fascist Hasina's rule and state violence
where the people of Bangladesh are expressing their urge to live with
freedom, rights, and dignity. However, to reach that destiny, we need a
democratic transformation of the state, we need to dismantle elite armed
force which commits extrajudicial killing, and we need to restructure
every institution so that nobody ever can gain the power to commit such
atrocities. We need to throw away neo-liberal policies and move towards
an economy for the people and workers, not for the capitalist class.
However, for all of this to happen, we need a strong working-class
movement and civil rights movement. So far, the people and society have
shown incredible resistance to facing state violence. The resistance
marks a new beginning for the struggle towards a more equal, just, and
free Bangladesh. The future is uncertain but if this movement shows
anything, it has shown that organized people fighting for just cause can
show unthinkable resistance. We reject a future of totalitarianism, and
we expect nothing less than a people's revolution.

24 July 2024

The writer is a member of the anarchist group Auraj network

About Auraj: Auraj (Auraj means anarchy in Bangla) is an anarchist
network of Bangladeshi students and other people from different
professions. Auraj has published various translations of Anarchist
thinkers such as Bakunin, Kropotkin, Rudolf Rockers, and others in
Bangla. Auraj also frequently publishes articles on Bangladesh's
political and economic scenario. Auraj has shown solidarity with the
recent labor movements (movements of garment workers, jute mill
workers), student movements, and civil rights movements in Bangladesh.
Although members of Auraj have individually taken part directly in many
of these movements, including the ongoing current resistance, the
activity of Auraj as a group is mainly limited to publication.

https://www.auraj.net

=====
MYTHS ABOUT POLICE

»Not all Police are same, there are some good policemen out there too»

Reality: it is possible that a few people working for police might not
have vile intentions in heart. But police is not about any single
individual. It is created to do violence on people on the order of the
state. Police is by formation and function always anti people. That's
why police kills, it doesn't matter if you know a cop who is a »good»
person. Futhermore, for someone's purpose to be good, the means used
need to be good. But the means used by the police is only violence,
violence on the people.

Myths about Police:

Police is necessary for our protection.

Reality: Police is actually created to enforce violence on people to
keep people obedient. We don't need a murderer organization. What we
need is freedom, co-operation and responsibility sharing from all. We
need a society without centralized power, where people will co-operate
and protect each other without giving all the power to a force which can
kill and torture them at any excuse.

No to police brutality

Power to people

http://cnt-ait.info/2024/07/25/bangladesh-24-07-24/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca