The student protests began on the 1st of July with the reinstatement of 53% quotas in public institutions reserved for descendants of participants in the 1971 Liberation War (the conflict that led to the separation from Pakistan), which had been cancelled in 2018 under pressure from the street. The current government has alienated ordinary students. The protest is led by Students Against Discrimination (SAD), an unelected leadership. On July 15, protests intensified in the capital, Dhaka, and in all major cities. The government sent in the police and the BCL (Bangladesh Chatra League, the youth movement of the Awami League) attacked students. By the end of the day, 6 people were killed by the police and dozens injured. On July 16, police raided all the country’s universities. Military police took up positions in the country’s 5 largest cities. On July 17, the government closed all universities. On July 18, news agencies reported that during the 4-day process, 39 militants were killed. On July 19, the government shut down the Internet, closed factories and declared a curfew. Following this decision, students engaged the police in hand-to-hand fight, police stations were targeted and, in Dhaka, a prison was set on fire.
Since there is no revolutionary party capable of consolidating the popular base, the leadership of the student movement probably remained under the control of the bourgeois opposition parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP, linked to the army) and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI, the main Islamist party, advocating a return to Pakistan). As a result, the student movement was unable to unite with the workers’ movement, or move towards a general workers’ strike.
On July 21, the Supreme Court reviewed the measure and lowered the quota to 7%. Demonstrations continued unabated, involving more than just students. In secret, to save the bourgeois state, the General Staff negotiated with the SAD. On August 5, Prime Minister Hassina (AL) resigned and fled to India, as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rajapaksa (SLPP) had to do in 2022. In all, the repression caused 1,000 deaths and 10,000 injuries.
On August 5, army chief Waker uz Zaman dismissed the former police chief and announced the formation of an interim government. It is headed by a bourgeois economist, Muhammad Yunus (84), founder of the Grameen Bank. The government includes two SAD students, a bourgeois feminist, two BNP members and a former army officer.
Previously, Bangladesh has experienced 4 revolutionary situations, all betrayed, in the last 70 years:
- the1952 language movement,
- the 1968-1969 strikes,
- the 1971 war of independence,
- the 1990 struggle against dictatorship.
In the absence of a socialist perspective, reactionary Islamism is on the rise. Many trade unions remain under the control of bourgeois parties (AL, BNP…). In Asia, the labor movement remains steeped in the Stalinist legacy. The Maoist and Stalinist remnants still defend:
- revolution by stages (carrying out only a democratic revolution, without starting a socialist revolution),
- the anti-imperialist united front (subordinating the proletariat to this or that fraction of the bourgeoisie).
For instance, in Nepal in 2006, the two Maoist parties refused to take power and saved the bourgeois State. In Bangladesh in 1971, the highly influential Stalinists split into two wings: the pro-Moscow Stalinists aligned themselves with the Awami League, while the pro-Beijing Stalinists opposed independence despite national oppression.
Since 2007, most of the political organisations that emerged from Stalinism (CPB, SPB, DRP, RCLB, SPB-M, BSP) have formed a reformist bloc (Left Democratic Alliance, LDA), which has learned nothing from the past.
The Alliance urged democratic political parties to begin discussions on reforms… The statement mentioned that after the student-led uprising, the “Anti-Discrimination Student Movement” had stated that all political parties, civil society, and educators would be consulted in forming the government… The statement called on the government to lead the country with the spirit of the popular uprising. (Dakha Tribune, August 11, 2024)
Without building a revolutionary workers’ party, the student and popular revolt will be betrayed.
Bangladesh can only achieve democracy if the working class emancipates itself from all fractions of the bourgeoisie and unifies despite its religious and ethnic differences. Then it will be able to rally poor peasants, craftsmen and small shopkeepers, executives, students and religious minorities.
Bangladesh can only escape the clerical obscurantism that has been spreading since the partition of the Indian Empire, and which is gaining strength throughout the world, with a social revolution.
Bangladesh can only develop if the socialist revolution extends to the whole region (India, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan…) and to China, enabling it to collaborate with the other workers‘ and peasants’ governments that will emerge. Bangladesh can only survive if the world socialist revolution stops global warming and the whole ecological crisis.
Therefore, it is imperative to build a revolutionary workers’ organisation which will bring together the vanguard of the student youth, the trade unions, the organisations of working peasants (Krishok, Kishani Sabha …), feminism, the LDA parties which have decided to break with all the fractions of the bourgeoisie, etc.
Break-up of all workers’ organisations (unions, LDA) with the provisional government of the bourgeoisie and with all the bourgeois parties (AL, BNP, BJI, …)! For a trade union confederation for all wage earners!
Pay rises and shorter working hours, indexation of wages to inflation, safety at work! International class solidarity front of trade unions representing workers from all countries who manufacture and market products for the major retail chains: Inditex, C&A, H&M, Primark, Walmart, etc.
Imprisonment for bosses who arm goons against strikers or whose establishments and premises are dangerous! Expropriation of large landholdings! Expropriation without compensation of large national and foreign companies (agricultural, industrial, financial, commercial, etc.) under workers’ control! State monopoly of foreign trade!
Quality childcare facilities for the children of working women! Equal pay for working men and women! A ban on the exploitation of children!
Right to education for all children of both sexes! Universal, secular and free public education at all levels, including university!
Respect for the Hindu minority! Separation of religion and state! Ban forced marriages! Penalise ‘honour crimes’ against women!
Universal, secular and free public healthcare! Sex education for young people, free contraception, right to abortion! Full legal equality for men and women!
Committees of the masses in enterprises, neighbourhoods, universities, villages and regiments! Democratic rights for conscripts! Disarm the professional army, the paramilitary guards, the police, the secret services and the fascist militias! Arm the people!
Workers‘ and peasants’ government appointed by the national congress of elected committees! Socialist Federation of the Indian Subcontinent! Socialist United States of Asia!