How the young generation in Bangladesh ousted the leader who ruled most of their lives
Frustrated by a system that she says does not reward merit and offers few opportunities for young people, Jannatul Prome hopes to leave Bangladesh after college to pursue further studies or possibly find work.
“We have a very limited scope here,” said the 21-year-old, who would have left earlier if her family had enough money to pay tuition fees at foreign universities for her and her older brother at the same time.
But recent events have given her hope that she might one day return to a transformed Bangladesh: After 15 years in power, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned last week and fled the country — pursued by young protesters, among them Prome, who say they've had enough , how its increasingly autocratic rule stifles dissent, favors the elite, and widens inequality.
Students initially took to Bangladesh's streets in June to demand an end to rules that set aside up to 30 percent of government jobs for descendants of veterans who fought in the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Protesters said it benefited supporters of Hasina's Awami League, which led the fight – and which was already part of the elite. The quota and others for marginalized groups meant that only 44 percent of civil service jobs were awarded on merit.
That such jobs are at the center of the movement was no accident: They are some of the most stable and best-paying in a country where the economy has boomed in recent years but has not created enough solid, professional jobs for an educated middle class. .
And that Generation Z led this uprising was not surprising either: Young people like Prome are among the most frustrated and most affected by the lack of opportunity in Bangladesh – and at the same time, they are not bound by the old taboos and narratives that the quota system reflects.
Their willingness to break with the past was clear when Hasina downplayed their demands in mid-July, asking who, if not freedom fighters, should get government posts.
“Who will be? The grandchildren of the Razakars?” Hasina responded, using a deeply offensive word that refers to those who collaborated with Pakistan to suppress Bangladesh's independence struggle.
But the student protesters wore the word as a badge of honor. They marched through the Dhaka University campus chanting, “Who are you? who am i Razakar. who said that Dictator.”
The following day, protesters were killed during clashes with security forces – fueling the demonstrations, which spread into a wider uprising against Hasina's government.
Sabrina Karim, a Cornell University professor who studies political violence and Bangladesh's military history, said many of the protesters are so young they don't remember the time before Hasina was prime minister.
They were raised, like generations before them, on stories of the struggle for independence — with Hasina's family at the center. Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was the first leader of independent Bangladesh and was later assassinated in a military coup. But Karim said the story had much less meaning for the young protesters than it did for their grandparents.
“It doesn't resonate with them as much as it (used to). And they want something new,” she said.
Nourin Sultana Toma, a 22-year-old student at Dhaka University, Hasina likened the student protesters to traitors to realize the gap between what the youth want and what the government can provide.
She said she watched as Bangladesh slowly lulled itself into becoming immune to inequality and people lost hope that things would ever get better.
The country's longest-serving prime minister has prided herself on raising per capita income and transforming Bangladesh's economy into a global competitor – fields turned into garment factories and bumpy roads turned into winding highways. But Toma said she saw the daily struggle of people trying to buy basic things or find work, and her demand for basic rights was met with insults and violence.
“It couldn't be tolerated anymore,” said Toma.
This economic distress was strongly felt by the youth of Bangladesh. According to Chietigj Bajpaee, who researches South Asia at the Chatham House think tank, 18 million young people – in a country of 170 million people – are neither working nor studying. And after the pandemic, jobs in the private sector have become even more scarce.
Many young people try to study abroad or move abroad after graduation in the hope of finding a decent job, decimating the middle class and resulting in a brain drain.
“Class divisions have deepened,” said Jannatun Nahar Ankan, 28, who works with a non-profit organization in Dhaka and joined the protests.
Despite these problems, it seems that none of the protesters really believed that their movement could dethrone Hasina.
Rafij Khan, 24, was on the streets preparing to join the protest when he heard that Hasina had resigned and fled the country. He called home repeatedly to see if he could verify the message.
He said people from all classes, religions and professions have joined the students in the streets in recent days of demonstrations. They were now hugging each other while the others just sat on the ground in disbelief.
“I can't describe the joy that people felt that day,” he said.
Some of that euphoria is fading now as the enormous task ahead sinks in. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus became interim leader on Thursday and, along with a cabinet that includes two student protest leaders, will have to restore peace, build institutions and prepare the country for new elections.
Most students hope that the interim government will be given time to fix Bangladesh's institutions while a new political party is formed that is not led by the old political dynasties.
“If you asked me to vote in an election right now, I don't know who I would vote for,” Khan said. “We don't want to replace one dictatorship with another.”
The young people who took to the streets were often described as the “I hate politics” generation.
But Azaher Uddin Anik, a 26-year-old digital security specialist and recent graduate of Dhaka University, said this is a misnomer.
He hates all politics – only divisive politics in Bangladesh.
And while he admits that the structural reforms the country needs now may be more difficult than ousting a prime minister, for the first time in a while he is hopeful.
“My recent experience tells me that the impossible can happen,” he said. “And maybe it's not too late.
