The following is the text of a Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) leaflet that is being distributed at large protests in London and other parts of Britain, involving many Bangladeshis and others, over the brutal state repression of mass protests in Bangladesh.
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• No trust in Awami League, BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami or any of the corrupt establishment politicians or parties
• Fight for decent, safe jobs for all with living pay
• Defend the rights of students, young people and workers to protest
• No army intervention
• For a new mass party of workers and youth to fight for power
Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina has blood on her hands. Hundreds of students and young people have been massacred, and thousands injured by the police or Chhatra League thugs loyal to her party.
She sanctioned a brutal crackdown against students and young people demanding jobs and an end to the discriminatory quota which protects employment for the children of ‘freedom fighters’. In a shrinking job market, Hasina reintroduced this quota for university places and government jobs using the High Court. This policy widely favours supporters of Hasina’s ruling party, the Awami League, forcing millions of young people into unemployment, or abroad to seek work.
But students and youth have not put up with this. They have organised protests, especially in Dhaka, but in other towns and cities too. But following the killings, these mass protests are calling for Hasina to stand down.
Bangladesh is in turmoil, as Hasina implements austerity measures on the population and economic and political instability. Desperate to keep her and all her party cronies’ share of the wealth they have accumulated over the past 12 years, she has turned to the IMF for emergency loans.
But they want their pound of flesh with more privatisation of the economy and a driving down of the living standards of the working class and poor, as well as those in the middle class who don’t support the Awami League.
International big business has been eyeing up Bangladesh to siphon even more wealth out of the country. We can have no trust in these bosses or their governments to intervene in this movement in the interest of workers and young people.
Last year Hasina ordered a brutal crackdown on garment workers striking for wages to protect them from inflation that is ravaging the country. Hasina hypocritically calls all opposition to her increasingly authoritarian rule ‘Razakar’, referring to the collaborationist paramilitary gangs that fought for Pakistan in the 1971 war of independence. But it is she that is using the methods of these gangs to silence opposition, maintain her power and the wealth of her elite and that of international big business – in reality gangster capitalism!
CAN THE MOVEMENT BEAT HASINA?
Hasina’s shutdown of the state broadcaster, of mobile and internet communication networks, and the imposition of a curfew, is a desperate move to stop the protests from spreading. The potential exists now for a nationwide shutdown including a general strike, bringing workers together with students and young people to demand that Hasina goes.
But Hasina will not go quietly. Her record of imprisoning or disappearing opposition leaders and protesters make this a life-or-death, high-stakes battle. Despite new rulings by the Supreme Court to reduce the discriminatory job quota from 30% to 5%, the movement does not look like it is dissipating. Workers and youth are demanding justice for those killed and maimed at the hands of the state.
But a determined mass movement could see Hasina removed from power just like the Rajapaksa brothers were forced from office in Sri Lanka in 2022. The protest movement has spread to the wider Bangladeshi diaspora internationally, with major protests in cities such as London.
BUT WHO WILL REPLACE HER?
All opposition parties are vying to replace Hasina. But the main establishment parties, including the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and others, would continue to rule in the interest of international big business. If they took power, they would hope to enrich themselves and their cronies. Bangladeshi workers, youth and the poor would still face high unemployment, poverty wages and unsafe working conditions. Students would still face worsening conditions in universities, and fees they would struggle to pay off.
Watching the situation are the army generals. There is also a threat that the military could strengthen its position and even try to intervene. Like in Pakistan’s recent history, a military coup is also possible in a situation like this. They would pose this as taking action to stop the country from descending into ‘lawlessness’. They have already been given increasing powers under the
curfew laws, and the state violence continues. But a military dictatorship, as well as a continuation of the rule of business, would place major restrictions on the democratic rights of workers, students and youth to protest against unemployment and low pay.
HOW CAN THE MOVEMENT OF STUDENTS AND WORKERS WIN?
The extraordinarily courageous movement to remove Hasina and gain justice for the families of the youth has the power to win. By forming democratic committees in the cities and towns including workers, trade unionists and students’ organisations, linked up on a regional and national basis, the movement could coordinate its actions and continue to harness the energy brought to the streets in the past days.
These committees crucially could defend workers from attack by the police and paramilitary government forces, the army, and the Chhatra League thugs. These committees could also provide forums to decide the political demands of the movement.
It is understandable if the quota system is used temporarily to help students from impoverished backgrounds. But the government manipulates the quota system to divide the population only to strengthen their position. The lack of adequate public education and job creation are the real issues, which result directly from the government’s capitalist profit-motive policies.
In addition, the movement could take up demands such as a living rate of pay to beat inflation; for the democratic right to protest; for a free education system open equally to all students, with facilities for all, including those with disabilities, and minority rights; the removal of corrupt officials, and the election of new representatives who are accountable to the movement, and paid on the average workers’ salary.
A NEW MASS WORKERS’ PARTY
This would be the beginnings of building a new party based on the working class, students and youth, and the oppressed and poor in rural areas. Bangladesh has seen enormous wealth flood into the country in recent times. But it has gone to a small minority at the top of society. Inequality has risen enormously, leading to a growth in poverty and uncertainty for the youth.
A new mass workers’ party in Bangladesh could debate and decide how this wealth could be put into the hands of the people who created it, the working class, and how it would be democratically used to lift all out of poverty once and for all.
That should include taking the factories and banks out of the hands of the profiteers, and putting them into democratic public ownership, under workers’ control. Support could be guaranteed to small farmers struggling with the consequences of the climate crisis. Bangladeshi workers could appeal to the workers, youth and poor people throughout the region to defend this movement and spread its demands.
JOIN THE SOCIALISTS
There have been furious demonstrations in the diaspora, looking for ways to support the current struggle in Bangladesh. In UAE, which has the largest diaspora, 57 Bangladeshi nationals have outrageously been sentenced to 10-year prison sentences for supposedly “inciting violence” through their solidarity protests. In Britain, the new Labour prime minister Keir Starmer went into the recent election making racist comments against the Bangladeshi working class here. None of the capitalist institutions or their parties truly represent our interests.
The working class needs its own political voice in all countries. Steps towards a new mass party of the working class in Britain would put enormous pressure on the Labour government and pose a fundamental alternative to all the establishment parties. Working-class struggle in Britain for socialist policies – for jobs, homes and services – would have a huge effect on workers and young people all around the world.
