Protests in Bangladesh began in early July as a peaceful student rally against the country’s job quota system in Dhaka University. However, things took a violent turn early last week due to a brutal intervention from the police and ruling party supporters, which caused at least a half-dozen deaths and more than 100 casualties. Unrest spiralled out of control, leading to a nationwide internet shutdown and a curfew enforced by thousands of soldiers on the 18th July, which has significantly restricted the flow of information from and within the country. Meanwhile, the number of victims has exceeded 150 in just a week with many witnesses denouncing torture and unprecedented use of force by the police, who accuse the ruling party’s opponents of committing sabotage.

Controversial media coverage and problematic information flows have pushed the UN to ask for “an impartial, independent and transparent investigation into all alleged human rights violations” that have occurred in Bangladesh, as reported by the UN’s Human Rights Chief Volker Turk. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blames opposition parties like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami and their student wings for causing the unrest, but it is difficult to discern fact from fiction. As Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion told Al Jazeera, “the government is blaming other people, others are blaming the government; we need a full impartial investigation”.

This violent turn of events has substantially undermined the role of education, which aims to broaden media literacy, critical thinking, civic engagement, and to encourage younger generations to take part in the democratic process. By reacting with excessive force to peaceful protests, the government  undermined democratic values and objectives, and failed to foster a diverse yet cohesive society in which different voices and needs are respected through meaningful dialogue. Moreover, not only did the Bangladeshi political elite suppress dissent in an authoritarian manner, it also threatened freedom of expression through the manipulation of media coverage and the shutdown of the internet.

Despite these challenges, student protesters have drawn attention to their cause and won some concessions. In June, the High Court ruled that removing the quota system, which ensures that 30% of government jobs are filled by the children and grandchildren of veterans from Bangladesh’s independence war, would be unconstitutional. This ruling triggered the protests, but following weeks of nationwide turmoil the High Court backtracked and ruled that 93% of jobs would now be filled on merit and only 7% would be reserved for freedom fighters’ descendants. Regrettably, this decision did not bring an end to the unrest, which suggests that tensions between the government and citizens continue to linger. Many people question the legitimacy of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 4^th electoral victory in January 2024.

In conclusion, not only do these protests in Bangladesh expose a corrupt system based on nepotism, but they also reveal the political elites’ unwillingness to enforce democratic values and practices. As Mubashar Hasan, a research fellow at the University of Oslo says, “the over-politicisation of the spirit of the liberation war by Sheikh Hasina and her party, the denial of basic voting rights to citizens year after year, and the dictatorial nature of her regime have angered a large section of society”. Until Ms. Hasina jettisons her authoritarian ways in favour of more democratic principles, Bangladesh will continue to bear witness to brutal crackdowns.