BANGLADESH is changing, and quite rapidly, at various levels. The post-1971 state and society changed radically from before. Traditional institutions were dominant as colonial state institutions were very weak. One had the courts, the judicial system and the paraphernalia of the district/collectorate administration, but the overwhelming majority preferred to stay away from them preferring the salish and other organic frameworks. 1971 changed that.
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Education and salariyat
A GRADUATE level education system, limited though, also was there, but that promoted northern and western ideologies, including, in cases, European radicalism. And it was expected to produce the elite that were waiting in the wings of history to take over the 鈥榓dministration鈥� 鈥� the civil service.
While they did have an idea of a new state, their continuity was in what may be described as the 鈥榮alariyat鈥�, the vast number of locally brewed colonial elite who imagined freedom as a high quality, low competition employment bureau. It is not that the middle class thinks otherwise anywhere. That tradition continues till today.
The media of this era also followed this aspiration and did not imagine 鈥榠ndependence鈥� beyond a state dominated by the salariyat. Thus, the pre-1971 media also followed the same route based on the class nature where the overwhelming majority of the rural population, including the poor, needed guidance and leadership of the middle class. The journey was towards stake-making. And, the state belonged to the middle class.
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Paradox of 1971 and state afterwards
THE paradox of 1971 is that despite having a classical middle-class aspirant elite leadership with a conventional framework for mobilisation, the conflict/war went beyond the colonial imagination of a liberation war. The Pakistan army鈥檚 error in underestimating public support for the cause, especially after the crackdown which triggered the multi-class and spontaneous resistance, forced it to haunt the villages. This, in turn, ignited social/informal involvement through resistance in a largely formal state-making war.
That is also when a critical mass was possibly acquired by the peasantry who began to survive socio-economically on their own, instead of depending on state agencies.
The political and constitutional scenario of the state institutions whether political or bureaucratic is on public display. The media since 1972 have focused largely on the success or failures of the state/formal layer of the country. That though there is a constitution and none lives by it does not need a discussion. Bangladesh has had one-party rule, military rule, combination rules and flawed elections to justify and continue ruling as history shows.
However, the national and local media remains interested in this making state agencies the prime news source. The middle class media do not or cannot think beyond the colonial, conventional or western framework that the state must lead society and its dominance over the rest must be accepted with a near-theological basis of justification.
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Media and social institutions
WHILE the media focus is entirely on the state institutions, society has expanded in every way possible. Yet, the media attention is inadequate. It is possible that a social focus would challenge the dominant narrative of state-centric Bangladesh, including the existence of the traditional salariyat structure as imagined by the colonial middle class.
The current Bangladesh has not just seen the weakening of the state and its institutions. It, probably, was never strong. Social institutions, including their survival and coping skills inherent in any living organism, have done much better because of that, growing more organically.
The primary motivation of social change is, of course, economic as expected and they are focused at a level that is not well understood by an urban society which accesses state identity or resources.
Rural economies are undergoing a significant shift such as in employment, both internal and external. These power a rural middle and an upper class that have developed their own networks and structure that sustains them. They are not challenging the state but are parallel to the formal ones which are weak.
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Reporting on newly emerging society
WHEN a third of the total labour population is in external migration, several million women are in rural-to-urban migration and economic transactions are many, they challenge the colonial notion of the migrant imagined as dirt poor people who make no difference. That may apply to the bottom percentages, but the overall scene is one of economic empowerment. The implications are many and, perhaps, the biggest one is the limited need of the state and its machinery.
However the national media are not familiar with this scenario as much and are still looking at the functioning of the state machinery only to detect dominant socio-economic trends in news making. The result is a weak understanding of social changes and disproportionate media attention to a segment that is no longer the only functioning sector in Bangladesh.
The media need support in the form of training in the changing landscape to retain its relevance and interest of consumers. The metropolis and the port city alone do not matter but the entire Bangladesh does. That needs to be reported on.
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Afsan Chowdhury is a researcher and journalist.
