Progressive South Asians Solidarity Statement for Bangladesh’s Student Protesters

Bangladesh’s student community has been peacefully protesting since July 1, 2024. The protests turned violent after state forces and groups linked to the ruling party, particularly its student wing Bangladesh Chhatro League (BCL), started attacking student protesters.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has compared the student protestors to razakars  – an offensive term used to refer to those who betrayed Bangladesh in the 1971 liberation war by collaborating with Pakistan. Sheikh Hasina’s vilification of students has intensified the atmosphere of hostility against them. We reject this irresponsible and dangerous mischaracterization of the student protestors. The student protests embody the very principles of the liberation war where people from all social classes united against an oppressive and anti-people government.

The anti-quota movement has spread all over Bangladesh. Students from private and public universities, colleges, and schools have been on the streets for the past weeks. Respected educators, intellectuals, and thinkers have joined the students in demanding the reform of the quota system. In response, the ruling party’s student wing has launched brutal attacks on student protesters. The government has also deployed the police, military, rapid action battalion (RAB) and border security forces against protesters in several districts.

While Western news sources have reported between 25 and 39 deaths, local sources in Bangladesh report that the actual numbers exceed 100. Amnesty International’s analysis of witness testimony, photographic and video evidence confirmed that the Bangladeshi security forces used unlawful force against protesters. The government has deployed riot police who fired tear gas and charged protesters with batons. Paramilitary troops were also deployed across many districts. There are video  reports of police  attacking funeral processions of student martyrs. Thousands have been injured and are in critical condition. We mourn the loss of student martyrs and are gravely concerned about the well-being of protestors in critical condition. Since July 18, 2024, internet and cellular networks have been shut down in Bangladesh, disconnecting the country from the rest of the world. The government issued a curfew order on July 19, 2024.

We condemn the government’s brutal violence and repression of students that are exercising their democratic right to protest. As a progressive block of South Asians, we are well aware of the rising wave of authoritarianism and fascism across the subcontinent and the rest of the world. We see Sheikh Hasina’s government as chained up with a global wave of fascism that only strengthens capitalists and imperialists further at the expense of ordinary people and civilian lives. The only way forward is to stand together against authoritarianism and support the people’s right to dissent. We express our steadfast  solidarity with Bangladesh’s student protesters and others who have joined them in their fight against a repressive regime and the entrenched networks of privilege backed by political patronage.

We urge student organizers and progressive activists in the subcontinent and the diaspora to join us in supporting Bangladesh’s students and civilians as they stand against an authoritarian government that works for domestic elites and foreign capital. We also urge western media to not represent the state crackdown on students and other protestors as “clashes” between protesters and the police. We demand that the government end the curfew and withdraw security forces it has deployed against peaceful students with immediate effect and reopen Bangladesh’s communication with the rest of the world.

In Solidarity,
Progressive South Asians, Massachusetts

AGITATE! Journal supports this statement and stands in solidarity with student protestors in Bangladesh.