The Asian Peasant Coalition and the ILPS Commission 6 express its solidarity with the Bangladeshi peoples’ movement

The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) and the ILPS Commission 6 (Peasant Commission) express its support and solidarity with the peoples’ movement in Bangladesh that successfully overthrew the repressive government of Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina. In the frontlines of which are the youth and students who successfully consolidated and mobilized themselves at the national scale to fight for genuine change in the country.

On 1 July 2024, a student-led movement “Students Against Discrimination” organized themselves against the government’s quota system that assured a massive 30% of civil government positions to descendants of freedom fighters. The organized student movement saw the policy as deeply discriminatory and will severely limit job prospects for the majority of Bangladesh’s young population. Dissatisfied with the government’s response to lower the percentage in parliament while violently dispersing and attacking protesters on the streets, the movement against discrimination quickly shifted to a broader and louder call to oust the repressive government of Hasina. They were met with violence by the state forces which resulted in the death of an estimated number of 400 people and about 10,000 civilians were arrested. Among them was Abu Sayed, a student leader from the peasant class who was shot and killed by police forces deployed to “control” the protests igniting outrage across the country and worldwide.

On 5 August 2024, Hasina resigned from the position of Prime Minister due to the growing people power, and fled the country for India, putting into place an interim government headed by recently appointed army chief General Waker Uz-Zaman. But the organized student movement did not let this government run for too long and called for the installation of a caretaker government to be led by Muhammad Yunus. Yunus, last Thursday, spoke to the Bangladeshi people, especially addressing the students composing the anti-repressive movement, saying a new “seedbed” must be built by the people.

The APC and ILPS Commission 6 applaud the inspiring and unwavering revolutionary spirit of the youth of Bangladesh who demonstrated the achievable success of an organized peoples’ movement for genuine change and democracy. Let the experiences of the awe-inspiring movements in South Asia, from the farmers protests in India to the youth participating and exercising their democratic rights in Bangladesh, be a model to aspire to by other struggling peoples, especially the rural sector in the Global South. We look forward to a prosperous new era for Bangladesh, one that will rightfully uphold peoples’ rights and comprehensively rebuild and strengthen its economy based on agriculture.

Long live the peoples’ struggle!