Translated by Andrea Solazzo
“Con giorni lunghi di colori chiari ecco Luglio, il leone
Riposa, bevi e il mondo attorno appare come in una visione”
"With long days of clear colours here is July, the lion
Rest, drink and the world around appears as in a vision”
This is how Francesco Guccini describes July in his song Canzone dei dodici mesi, and it certainly fits the appellation lion for the students who in Bangladesh have been protesting for days against the government of Sheikh Hasina, prime minister in her fifth term, who has made extensive use of emergency powers to repress dissent: with a series of decrees she has closed schools and universities, imposed a curfew, deployed the army alongside the police and imposed a block on internet and mobile phone services, in order to make it difficult for the protesters to organise.
To clarify: Bangladesh has been a democratic republic since 1972, its form of government is parliamentary, the prime minister is elected, together with the other members of the executive, by the President of the Republic and all are responsible to Parliament. The Bengali Constitution is rigid, it guarantees in Part 3 an important set of freedoms and fundamental rights of the individual, for the violation of which a recourse to the High Court Division is provided for, although the admissibility of exceptions to fundamental rights in the cases referred to in Articles 45, 47 and 141B of the Constitution is provided for: among them, the proclamation of a State of Emergency.
In recent weeks, the heavy and violent repression of dissent - more than 2,500 arrests and 174 deaths are reported - followed the outbreak of originally peaceful protests, which originated in the universities and then spread outside the academic nuclei, resulting in events such as the assault on the Narsingdi prison, which led to the release of more than 850 inmates and the burning down of the facility.
Why the protest? The casus belli was the reintroduction of the quota system of public jobs: this had been abolished in 2018, but reintroduced a few months ago following the acceptance of the demands made by the families of the veterans of the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan: the system initially set quotas for 56% of public administration jobs, 30% of which were reserved, precisely, for the relatives of the veterans. Young Bengalis are opposed to this type of distribution, which they consider unfair and non-meritocratic for several reasons: first of all, every year 400 thousand new graduates compete for public jobs, but there are only 3 thousand available; in this scenario, the distribution by quotas ensures the position to members of families who, according to many, are among the main supporters of the Awami League, the party of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, so it would be an interested system.
She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's founding leader who led Bangladesh's independence movement from Pakistan, for which he is known as the Father of the Nation. Hasina was first elected in 1996, lost the following elections but then returned to power in 2009: she has not left it since, and in January 2024 began her fourth consecutive term.
In recent years, the country has seen its per capita income triple and, according to a World Bank estimate, more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty; many infrastructure projects have been undertaken, and consequently many foreign investments have been attracted; Bangladesh has become one of the largest garment producing countries, second only to China.
The prime minister has always promoted policies in favour of the poorest sections of the population and women's rights, as well as speaking out against military dictatorships and always defending democracy. The opinion of the opposition, however, along with that of various international organisations, criticises a progressive change of course in the last 15 years of her government, in the direction of an authoritarian closure and a threat to democracy itself.
His leadership is the longest ever in the country's history, but the last two elections are not free from the shadows of violence and repression towards the opposition, represented by the Bangladesh National Party (Bpn), headed by Hasina’s historical rival Khaleda Zia: the latter is under house arrest, her heir is fleeing an arrest warrant, many Bpn members and supporters are in jail; not only that, in the days leading up to the elections 18 cases of political violence were recorded.
Let us return to the cause of the protests: the quota system had been suspended in 2018 by a government order but was back in force after a declaration of the order's illegality by the High Court: as this is a common law system, its decisions are binding. The execution of the ruling was suspended until last 21 July, when the Supreme Court intervened and ruled for the reduction of the quota for veterans' descendants to 5% of jobs in public employment.
The decision, however, did not bring an end to the protests: these weeks have seen Sheikh Hasina's government reacting with extreme violence, culminating when the university branch of the premier's party also took to the streets, but with the aim of siding against the protesting people. At this point, the demands of the protesters, who are no longer just students, have changed and increased, and criticism has spread to the government in general and its repressive handling of dissent: the protests will not stop, at least not until those imprisoned in recent weeks are released and those responsible for the violence have resigned.
Political expert Ali Riaz, although he believes that the government can resist politically, does not rule out that the continuation of the protests has the potential to cause its resignation. The survival of Sheikh Hasina's government is in question.
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