Anti-Quota Protests and Repression in Bangladesh 2024: the Anti-Privilege Trend in silent Land

Since June of this year, protests have erupted in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and in several cities in the country against the quota system for admission to the civil service, and against reserving 30% of the civil service admission quota for the descendants of soldiers during the War of Independence. Crowds, banners, and voices of protest were everywhere, from university campuses to major roads. But the protests went unnoticed by the world and the impact was limited to within Bangladesh.

   In mid-July, the government's military and police, pro-government figures, clashed massively with students and people involved in the protests, with more than 100 protesters dead (according to the latest figures of July 25, the death toll has exceeded 200) and thousands injured. This is what sparked widespread international attention.

    On July 21, the High Court of Bangladesh, a division of the Supreme Court, announced its verdict on the Civil Services Admission Reform Bill, which drastically reduced the percentage reserved for military descendants (from 30% to 5%), and made 93% of the civil service recruitment quotas merit-based, leaving the remaining 2% of the quota for disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, and transgender people. After that, the mass protests came to an end. However, protests calling for the release of the arrested protesters and accountability for the violence perpetrated by the military and police are still ongoing.

    Bangladesh, located in eastern South Asia, has long been on the fringes of world opinion, going unnoticed. But Bangladesh is not a small country, but one with a population of nearly 170 million (the eighth largest in the world, after Brazil and more than Russia), a long and once-glorious history, and great potential for future development. Only its suffering and potential are little known.

    Bengal in the ancient times was both an offshoot of the ancient Indian civilization and quite unique. Afterwards, the Bengal region, like the Indian subcontinent, went through multiple regime changes, ethnic and religious conflicts and integration, and was colonized by Britain in the mid-18th century. During the end of British colonization and the partition of India and Pakistan, Muslim-majority East Bengal became part of what was then Pakistan, known as East Pakistan. And West Bengal is owned by India, the Indian state of West Bengal.

    However, the unequal relations between East and West Pakistan due to communal differences, geographic divides, competing interests, and especially West Pakistan's dominance in Pakistan's political-military-economic sphere, have led to constant conflict between the two sides.In 1971, East Pakistan erupted in massive anti-West Pakistani protests and declared independence from Pakistan. The West Pakistani side immediately declared East Pakistan a rebellion, and the Pakistani garrison in East Pakistan carried out a bloody crackdown.

    After the brutal War of Independence, the massacres perpetrated by the West Pakistani army in the capital city of Dhaka, and the intervention of the Indian army and its support for the independence of the Bengalis, the new Bangladesh, known as the "People's Republic of Bengal" (Gaṇaprajātantrī Vāṁlādeśa), was formed. "Bengal", as the present Bangladesh refers only to the post-independence East Bengal/former East Pakistan region in 1971, distinguishing it from the entire Bengal region and the Bengali community, and also from Indian-controlled West Bengal) eventually became an independent state amidst the bloodshed.

    Although the post-independence Bangladesh achieved national independence from the oppression of the Sipahis and nominally practiced democracy, it was a democracy in name only for a long time. The founding fathers of the war of independence, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president and father of the nation, formed a political party, the Bangladesh Awami League, which came to power, creating a new group of privileged people with a monopoly of power and resources. Protests by dissatisfied opposition parties and the general public led to a military coup d'état in which the father of the nation, Rahman, was killed.

    Since then, Bangladesh has experienced a number of military dictatorships, political strongman rule, and elected governments, and has experienced a lot of political turmoil. Although electoral democracy and political pluralism were gradually realized at the beginning of the 21st century, democracy is still quite immature, political violence is frequent, both the ruling party and the opposition party are taking advantage of the people, and the people are not able to effectively participate in politics and realize their demands.

   What is even more unsatisfactory to the public is the poor economic and livelihood conditions in Bangladesh over the past decades. Due to political instability, dense population, geographic vulnerability to flooding, and brutal war at independence, Bangladesh has no independent and strong industrial system, with the majority of the country's population working in agriculture, and some of the non-farming population working in low-paying jobs such as garment processing, and the lower and middle classes living in persistent poverty. While the government has made efforts to develop the economy under a number of military and civilian governments with some success, it has struggled to fundamentally revitalize the economy and reduce poverty.

   And the intensification of climate crisis in recent years has made Bangladesh hotter and more disaster-prone.2022 Floods in Bangladesh and neighboring India affected more than 9 million people, displaced hundreds of thousands for a time, and caused huge and uncountable property damage. From April to July this year, Bangladesh experienced another series of floods and record high temperatures, with many consecutive days of high temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, which is more than the human body can tolerate.

    High temperatures and floods, as well as epidemics and diseases, have made life more difficult for Bangladeshis and increased the risk of death, making people's lives miserable and less secure, and making them increasingly impatient and hard to calm down, which catalyzes social tensions. The impact of climate change on political violence has been overlooked, but it is very important and growing, and even more so for a low-latitude yet coastal region like Bangladesh.

    Bangladeshis, who are vulnerable to poverty and natural and man-made disasters, look to university and civil service as important ways to change their lives. Students, especially those from rural backgrounds, want to no longer be at the mercy of their parents' generation in an environment where floods and epidemics occur at every turn, where farming is hard and medical care is scarce. Becoming a civil servant is the key to changing their destiny.

   In Bangladesh, however, the selection of public officials in the government, judiciary, legislature, science, education, culture, and health institutions is not entirely fair, but is based on a combination of quotas and meritocracy. 30 percent of the quota was allocated to veterans of the war of independence (in 1997, the descendants of the veterans were also included in the quota, as they were aging), and some was allocated to women victims of the war and other disadvantaged groups, and the percentage of meritocracy was always below 50 percent (initially even 20 percent). In 1997, as the soldiers aged, their descendants were also included in the quota), and some were allocated to women victims of the war and other disadvantaged groups, with the percentage of merit-based enrollment being consistently below 50% (and even 20% in the beginning).

    While it is necessary to give due credit to those who participated in the war for their hard work, the high quota has resulted in a huge injustice by squeezing the lower and middle classes out of the government and other civil service jobs. Bangladesh is a densely populated country with a severe lack of well-paid, comfortable and stable jobs, making the civil service a "one-way street". The quota system, which gives less than 50 percent of the places to non-preferred nationals, who make up more than 70 percent of the population, is clearly unfair and greatly squeezes public access to public office.

   The quota system is also not conducive to meritocracy, which affects the competence and quality of public officials. When the quota system was first created, academics including Muzaffar Chowdhury, then vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, voiced their opposition. In the decades that followed, a number of scholars and eminent personalities in Bangladesh criticized the unfairness of the quota system and its impact on talent selection and the quality of academic education. Bangladesh's poverty and backwardness are also related to the lack of fairness in the selection of talents and the control of posts and resources by vested interests.

   Moreover, while the quota system is nominally meant for the military and the underprivileged, it is essentially a system of privileges deliberately designed by the long-ruling Awami League, the Bengali military and police, and the public officials of the government and the judiciary, all of which were formed during the War of Independence, in order to gain privileges, strengthen the community of interests, and weaken the power and influence of their opponents in the government and the judiciary. And a deliberately designed system of privileges. Not only was the quota for the military a notable privilege, but the quota for minorities and disadvantaged groups, while having an affirmative action element, was also designed to divide the masses, bring in minorities to suppress the majority, and divide and rule to a degree that was not entirely sincere in taking care of the weak.

    Thus, such a quota system triggered strong resentment from the opposition to the general public, and there have always been opposition voices and protests. The quota system has also changed several times over the decades, sometimes the quota has been reduced and the proportion of meritocracy increased, and sometimes the quota has been increased. However the percentage given to the Independence War servicemen and their descendants has been maintained at 30% and the cuts in the quota have come mainly from the original allocation to other disadvantaged groups. And the proportion of soldiers of the War of Independence and their descendants to the total population of the Mon State has always been less than 10%. In other words, these soldiers and their descendants are more than three times as likely to be admitted to the civil service examination as the average for all citizens, and more than five times as likely to be admitted to the civil service examination as the non-privileged population.

   The reform of the quota system and the increase or decrease of quotas are also closely related to political struggles. Quotas are higher when hard-line conservatives in the Awami League dominate politics and control the parliament and the Supreme Court, and tend to go down when reformers dominate politics and opposition parties are strong.

   Moreover, Bangladesh is nominally a country with separation of powers and an independent judiciary. However, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is deeply influenced by political struggles and factional positions, and has long been controlled by hard-line conservatives from pro-independence war interest groups. Moreover, a large number of members of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, are themselves "integrated" through the quota system. Such a Supreme Court, which is clearly not a truly independent judiciary, has repeatedly issued judgments upholding the quota system. In 2018, for example, the Supreme Court rejected a petition challenging the legality of the quota system.

   The current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the Father of the Nation Rahman, belongs to the reform-oriented faction of the Awami League. Although she has repeatedly and publicly emphasized the need to retain the quota system, but in the face of protests by students and the public, issued an executive order in 2018 to abolish the quota system, and began to implement in 2020. However, the hardline conservative-controlled Supreme Court ruled in June this year that Hasina's decree was invalid and that quotas should be reinstated.

    This triggered the protests from June to date and the mass bloodshed in July. Young Bangladeshi students and the general public, who have long been quite dissatisfied with the quota system and also abhorred government corruption, social poverty, and frequent political violence, have taken to the streets in protest. The protests are dominated by young students, who are both directly affected by the quota system and have a sense of responsibility to change the unjust and unjust status quo. Opposition parties dissatisfied with the monopoly of power by the Awami League and related forces, such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jatiya Party (Ershad), the Jatiya Party (Ershad), and the Jatiya Party (Ershad), are also dissatisfied with the monopoly of power by the Awami League and related forces. Party (Ershad))," "National Socialist Party (Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal)," and "Left Democratic Alliance (LDA)," also contributed to the The protests pushed the envelope. The reluctance of the officials to budge, and the growing agitation of the people in the demonstrations, led to the tragedy of mass deaths when the military and police popped up.

   It is worth mentioning that during the bloodshed, the Chhatra League, a student organization affiliated with the Awami League, played a role in suppressing the protests. " play an important role in suppressing protesters. This organization, many of whose members are descendants of soldiers of the War of Independence, is the biggest beneficiary of the quota system. The organization has also long acted as a wing of the ruling party, defending the government, spying on and bullying the opposition and the people. They attacked anti-quota students and people more vigorously than the military and police. These played an even more crucial role in suppressing protests on university campuses, leading the disruption and repression of the anti-quota student movement on campuses.

   Days of massive bloodshed not only did not reduce the protests, but also triggered an even greater wave of opposition, with many protesters taking to the streets in defiance of repression by the military, police and members of the Chhatra League, and with protests expanding from abolition of quotas to opposition to repression and political violence, corruption and nepotism, and calls for the Government to step down. At least hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the capital, Dhaka, and in the key port and industrial city of Chittagong, confronting and clashing with the military and police. With more than 100 deaths and thousands of injuries, the world began to turn its attention to Bangladesh, which had been neglected, and public opinion inside and outside the country generally condemned the crackdown and sympathized with the protesters.

   It was only under such pressure that Bangladeshi officials compromised, with the Supreme Court amending and drastically reducing the proportion of military offspring admitted to the proposed bill, and only then did the anger subside to a certain extent. However, Bangladesh's political ills have not been removed, and the bloody crackdown by the army, police and pro-government organizations in the current protests has left people angry and not satisfied with the withdrawal of the bill. The opposition is also unwilling to let go of the opportunity brought about by this wave of protests, calling on the people to continue to protest. So the author estimates that the demonstrations will continue in the short and medium term, but on a smaller scale than in previous days.

   The protests and bloodshed in Bangladesh reflect the anger of the Bangladeshi people who are dissatisfied with the social injustices such as vested interests clinging to their privileges, the country's backwardness and poverty, the high level of political violence, and the wide gap between the rich and the poor. And the attention of the international community after the protests and bloodshed forced Bangladeshi officials to make concessions, reflecting the necessity of resistance and the importance of international public opinion.

  In fact, Bangladesh has a long history of social injustice and political violence, with deadly political conflicts occurring from time to time. However, the human rights issues in Bangladesh have been neglected compared to some of the more developed and attention-grabbing countries and regions in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The current protests started in June, but received little international coverage and went quiet. In mid-July, more than 100 people died before attracting attention, both can be said to be fortunate, but can be regarded as less developed countries, human life "is not very important", the death of a lot of people can let the international glance a few times.

   The author has previously written a "Sudanese civil war in progress", reminding people to treat the humanitarian disasters of different countries as equally as possible, rather than treating them differently according to the degree of development and the degree of relevance to themselves. The tragedy in Bangladesh has once again proved the importance of equality of human life and humane care.

   Even in terms of importance, the international community should not ignore Bangladesh. As mentioned earlier, Bangladesh has a huge potential with a population of nearly 170 million. Over the years, Bangladesh's economy has also been growing at a fast pace, and although GDP per capita is still low, it also means that there is plenty of room for improvement. Bangladesh has also seen the emergence of public-spirited bankers such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and enterprises such as the Grameen Bank, which he founded to provide loans to the poor, women, the underprivileged and other disadvantaged people.

  For such a country with hope and potential, other countries and international organizations should not only increase economic and trade investment and boost its economy, but also promote the improvement of its human rights and social progress. It is conducive to improving the rights and livelihoods of Bangladeshis, creating a better business environment for countries to invest in Bangladesh, and contributing to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Countries should also pay attention to the danger of the climate crisis to the lives and livelihoods of Bangladeshis and provide the necessary relief and assistance to the Government and people of Bangladesh.

   In the long run, if Bangladesh is able to overcome poverty and mature in the future, it will probably be able to "return the favor" to the world. On the other hand, if countries do not pay attention to the various natural and man-made disasters in Bangladesh, the suffering of such a populous country will spill over, resulting in a refugee crisis at the least, and becoming a breeding ground and source of troops for wars and terrorist attacks at the worst, which is detrimental to both the Indo-Pacific and the world. In the future, social unrest and violence in Bangladesh and many other countries around the world due to climate change and disasters will only increase, not decrease. While this situation is difficult to reverse, it is more important for countries to minimize the impact of climate change on human life than to allow the tragedy to grow and spread, with hundreds of millions of lives at stake.

   In the wake of the protests and the bloodshed, Bangladesh's officials - the government, the parliament and the Supreme Court - should listen more to the people, respect the constitution's provisions for freedom, democracy and equality, and serve the people rather than become the mouthpiece of the privileged. The government and the Supreme Court should not backtrack and reverse the drastic reduction of the quota in the future (I think there is every possibility that the government and the court will increase the quota again at some point in the future after the protests have subsided).

   It is all the more important for the officers and soldiers of the Bangladesh War of Independence and their relatives and descendants to understand that national independence is for building a democratic, egalitarian and just society, not for personal gain and privileges for individuals, kith and kin, and small groups. While it is understandable that the quota system took proper care of the soldiers who shed their blood in the early years, it is clearly very inappropriate that it should now be extended to the future generations and take away the opportunities and resources shared by the public. It is more appropriate to give proper monetary compensation to the soldiers and their descendants than to squeeze out important opportunities in the lives of others.

   In the future, Bangladesh should make every effort to promote reforms and should not be bound by the narrow self-interests of the old interest groups; it should also eliminate unqualified officials, ensure free and fair competition, and value talents and employ them according to their abilities, so that it can liberate the productive forces, promote vitality, and realize the renaissance of the Bengali nation. As for the climate crisis and related disasters that are seriously affecting the development of Bangladesh and the safety of its citizens, the government and social organizations should be more active in paying attention to and preventing them, so that the people of Bangladesh will not be alone and helpless to bear the cost, and feel secure and not abandoned. In this way, the Bangladeshi society can be relatively stable and free from further large-scale bloodshed and social disorder due to natural and man-made calamities.

   Bangladesh's quota system and the controversy and turmoil it has triggered are not just a Bangladeshi problem. And the author's suggestions are certainly not only addressed to Bangladeshis. Similar reforms should be carried out in other countries and institutions that share the same ills as Bangladesh, in order to eliminate the accumulated ills and prevent new crises, and to alleviate social conflicts and maintain equity.

(Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)