UK students and academics slam Bangladesh government over response to protests

200 British university academics, workers, and student groups have declared their solidarity with the student movement in Bangladesh that has emerged in the wake of quota reform protests.

They are also calling for an end to the Bangladeshi government’s repression of students, as well as to the British government’s training of Bangladeshi police forces like the notorious Rapid Action Battalion unit (RAB).

Bangladesh: protesting outdated laws

As the Canary’s Priscilla Oei previously reported, in Bangladesh university students are protesting the job quota system for public service, calling it outdated and discriminatory. The Awami League government originally established the system after 1972 to help disadvantaged groups.

Now, it faces criticism for favouring individuals with political connections, rather than merit. This has caused frustration among young people, who feel their job opportunities are being unfairly limited.

Demonstrations began on 1 July 2024, where tens of thousands of students across the country took to the streets. This soon turned into an outburst of violence against the police. Around 174 people have been killed in the clashes, including several police officers. The authorities imposed a curfew and cut mobile and internet services.

They have deployed security forces to control the unrest, but human rights groups accuse them of using excessive force against protesters. Footage from redstreamnet on X shows police vehicles running over pedestrians with ultimately life-threatening consequences.

So, in the UK the joint statement calls for solidarity with the student movement.

Intimidation and punishment for dissent

The statement, coordinated by the UK Bangladeshi organisation Nijjor Manush, is published amidst the growing repression of faculty in Bangladesh who are engaging with student protesters. This includes Dr Shakera Nargis, a lecturer at Sylhet’s MAG Osmani Medical College, who is facing legal threats after allegedly attending a student meeting.

This situation marks a disturbing escalation in efforts to intimidate and punish dissenting faculty.

Highlighting the progressive role of student movements historically, the statement stresses the links between recent student mass mobilisations in Bangladesh and Britain, such as the student encampment movement in solidarity with Palestinians, and the draconian response from the government and universities in both instances.

The signatories call for academics and university workers in Bangladesh to lend their solidarity to their students and affirm their support for the deepening of the democratic struggle in Bangladesh.

Outrage at Bangladesh’s government

A spokesperson from Nijjor Manush, which coordinated the statement, says:

Bangladeshis in the diaspora have been outraged by the brutal response of the Bangladeshi government to the current student movement.

It has exposed the thinly-veiled contempt of the Bangladeshi government towards its people and their democratic aspirations.

On this, the Bangladeshi government can find common ground with our own government here in Britain – given the British state’s training and support for the notorious Rapid Action Battalion police unit and the recent joint agreement between the two governments to expedite the deportation of Bangladeshi asylum seekers from Britain.

We call for an end to the British government’s complicity with state violence in Bangladesh and express our support for the deepening of popular democratic struggle in Bangladesh by students, workers, peasants and the oppressed as the antidote to the oppressive rule of the Awami League government.

Dr. Adnan Fakir, lecturer at the University of Sussex, says:

As Bangladeshi academics in Britain, we extend our full solidarity and support to students currently on the frontline in Bangladesh and call on our counterparts in Bangladeshi universities to support their students.

The re-emergence of the quota reform movement – and the draconian response to it – has seen the arrested ambitions of students and youth in Bangladesh, facing large-scale unemployment and inequitable access to public sector employment, reveal the widespread discontent with the ruling dispensation in Bangladesh.

The government needs to publicly acknowledge, apologize, and provide justice for the martyrs of the movement in order for the nation to move forward.

The collective memory of the draconian acts, without proper justice and political reformation, will only lead to repeated cycles of the horror that has transpired. The task of transforming society cannot be shouldered by students alone. It is one that can only be carried through by the students of Bangladesh alongside the peasants, the workers and the oppressed.

Featured image via Al Jazeera – screengrab