BANGLADESH experienced a successful non-party uprising against a brutal fascist regime in July. The Awami League government could in no way quell the uprising even with merciless killing. Every brutal move of the government, instead, added fuel to uprising revolution and selfless sacrifice that continued to increase and boost participation of people from all walks of life. The outcome was the fall of the government.
This is not the only example of a successful non-partisan uprising. There are a few other examples. People Power Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines, Orange Revolution of 2004鈥�2005 in Ukraine, Jasmine Revolution 2010鈥�2011 in Tunisia, Velvet Revolution of 1989 in Czechoslovakia, Bulldozer Revolution of 2000 in Serbia, Sudanese Revolution of 2019, Pots and Pans Revolution of 2008鈥�2009 in Iceland, etc. While most of the happenings were non-violent, a few of of them involved death and injuries. But the death and injuries of the July uprising in Bangladesh was no match to the figures of these other happenings.
An official estimate says that the July uprising in Bangladesh left 625 dead and 18,380 injured. The figures are not conclusive and they could increase. Unofficial estimates says that the figure of death could be more than 1,000. An Important point to notice here is that the number of death includes people from all walks of life. A child resting in bed inside a multi-storee building was also killed by a bullet fired from a helicopter that broke through the window.
Since 2008, the fascist Awami League regime continued to oppress all political parties and people against the regime. It destroyed most of the national institutions. Consequently, a rage ultimately united all the oppressed under the banner of a legitimate student protest that led to the fall of the government. In spite of such a hot political climate born out of about 16 years of tyranny, why did the opposition political parties fail to organize such a movement to overthrow the government and reinstate social, political and administrative order? Is it because of fascism alone? I guess, it is not.
Every movement requires a strong cause as to why people will involve themselves. The participation in such a movement is driven by hopes and aspirations relating both the future and the past. Participants also try to figure out as to how and who will be the captain of the ship to materialise the hopes and aspirations.
Although the tyranny of the fascist regime established by the political party earned hatred, past activities of the opposition failed to instil adequate confidence that it can bring about positive change matching the desires. As such, opposition attempts at organising movements to establish democracy, to have fair elections and such failed to inspire people to get engaged in the movement. Because, a focus of ordinary people is not on the system of governance; the desire of people is, rather, good governance, no matter what听 the system of governance is. Simple is the case: they desire to have their dreams and aspirations materialised.
Democracy as defined by Abraham Lincoln, 鈥榖y the people, for the people and of the people鈥�, if truly implemented, probably, is capable of meeting the need of people. But, what is the reality? Implementing democracy in its usual pattern through elected representatives can somehow give the look of a true democracy; it is, indeed, not. To some extent, it takes the shape of monarchy just after the electoral process ends. However, the degree varies with the forms of democracy adopted and the practice on ground.
The form of democratic governance that we have adopted can be categorised as of Westminster type where parliamentary sovereignty is predominant. It was adopted probably because of the consultancy that the framers of the constitution solicited. Believably, such an effective and functional system of governance, however, may not be suitable for every cultural context. In this situation, the prudence in the adoption of the Westminster system of governance without adequate checks and balances should probably be questioned.
Political parties are often found to be causing illusion among people without due consideration of the understanding of both the self and the people. Do people understand democracy? Do they understand which form of democracy is good? At least, ordinary people do not. Still, they banded together听 under the banner of democracy. Why do they do so? Most of them join political parties to enjoy power with the illusionary belief about the capability of the governance system preached. And, that is the reason governance usually takes different route than the desired one and occasionally causes untoward situation and gives birth to fascist regimes such as the one we experienced.
It is the most opportune time for Bangladeshis to shake their head, get out of illusion, think creatively and devise a system of governance that will be our own to address all our limitations, cultural attributes, religious beliefs, social norms, etc.
With that, we should aspire to say good bye to all possibilities of encountering or experiencing the nightmare of fascism, exploitation, subjugation and room for boundless exploration of potential to stand upright to be respectfully treated.
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Md Farid Alam is a retired lieutenant colonel.
