Bangladesh - July 22 2024

Long live the heroic student and worker struggle!

Since the beginning of July, there have been mobilizations, protests and encampments that have become radicalized in recent days, led by students in Bangladesh.
The event that gave rise to the protests was the decision of the Prime Minister, Ms. Sheikh Hasina, to increase the quotas for access to public employment for “veterans of the war of independence and their descendants”, from 5% to 30% last June. These veterans are members of her ruling party, the Awami League, which in 1971 led the independence process on a “democratic socialist” front and which, since 1991, has been one of the most important parties in the country.

Currently, and through fraudulent maneuvers, Prime Minister Hasina has been in government for 15 uninterrupted years -guaranteeing the fierce exploitation of workers for imperialist multinationals-, which is why the rebellious masses call her the autocrat.
On July 16 Tuesday morning, protests led by university students in Dhaka escalated into direct clashes against the police and student members of the Awami party. Quickly, thousands of exploited people joined the street combats that were replicated throughout the country, overwhelming the police and their anti-riot forces, even managing to destroy police posts and police stations.

The situation became even more radical when the government, which accused the student vanguard as razakar (foreign agents), decided to declare a curfew; the interruption of internet service, to try to prevent the organization of protests; and reinforce repression with soldiers in the streets, with orders of shooting to kill. The murderous state, by order of Hasina, has so far claimed the lives of at least 130 protesters (deaths for which she says she is not responsible) and took hundreds hostage, locking them in prisons, thus trying to mitigate the intensity of the uprisings, which far from stopping, as they disobeyed the curfew, redoubled the confrontations in every possible way, including by the youth’s hacking institutional websites and burning the state television channel building to ashes.

Faced with the incessant attacks of the authoritarian government, the response of the protesters was felt with greater power than in the previous days. On Friday July 19, the protesters managed to take over the Narsingdi prison (located 50 km from the national capital), releasing all the prisoners and finally setting fire to its surroundings. The combats continued during the following day.

On Sunday July 21, as a result of the week of terror that the people had put the government through, the Supreme Court partially annulled the modification in the quotas for access to public employment for Awami, going back to 5%.

State authorities call on students to return to classes and leave the streets. The curfew continues and to this is added the government day of rest dictated for 48 hours, in which only essential service workers will be allowed to circulate. However, the students and exploited people who are part of the protests maintain that they will continue fighting until justice is done for their brothers and sisters murdered by the state under the orders of Hasina. Furthermore, they maintain that they do not trust the statements of the Supreme Court until they see that the government transforms the measures taken into facts.

Open the road to worker-student unity! Work and decent wages for all the exploited!
For the working class and rebellious youth to enjoy a dignified life, Hasina must fall!