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For now, exactly a year after the formation of the interim government, it is disappointing to see the government that was installed through a bloody mass uprising has failed its people and is behaving more following the impulse of the Facebook response than acting on its political vision and commitment to principles of equality and justice. The way the interim government has taken decisions on issues of public interest, they proved to be inefficient, incapable and without a political backbone.

The people’s aspiration, what changes they wanted to see in Bangladesh, was well reflected in the graffiti painted across the country during and immediately after the July mass uprising. The Gen-Z and the Gen-Alpha of this country made no mistake in portraying the aspirations that people in this land carried close to their hearts since the independence. Those graffiti depicted a democratic, just and equal state which does not discriminate on the basis of religion, ethnicity, gender, race, class or culture. Those graffiti also depicted a truly sovereign county and a society where people live with dignity. Those graffiti also raised voices against the state violence, fascist state mechanism, capital flight, corrupt bureaucracy, rampant corruption of the ruling elites and ‘partisan’ judiciary. In fact, the ‘real July Charter’ was already written on the walls through graffiti works.

What happened in the year that followed the July mass uprising? The political and corporate elites, as well as the ‘deep state’, were unsettled after witnessing the force of people’s power during the July uprising. The system that feeds only their greed and dispossession was momentarily shaken, and in the past year, since the interim government was installed, they did everything to sideline people’s aspirations and attempted everything to undo people’s hope. The inaction of the government created a situation in which a notable faction of the leaders of the uprising became morally and even financially corrupt. It seems that the interim government, in a true sense, failed to recognise that it was the people’s agency that brought a fatally repressive, fascist regime down. It is, therefore, no wonder that the chief advisor tried to come up with a mastermind theory, which immediately faced fierce public criticism. The chief advisor floated the mastermind theory, and then there were many to claim real mastermindhood. After that, ‘Masterminds’ erupted one after another. Meanwhile, the interim government did many things, including a number of costly drone shows or red-carpet inaugurations to restore a canal in Dhaka, except implementing the ‘real July Charter’ painted on the walls.

The first attack was on the garment workers after the uprising. Then indigenous groups, women, rickshaw pullers, diverse Muslim and other religious groups, and marginalised people of diverse culture, profession or gender identity endured violence. These attacks came either directly from the state forces or through organised ‘mobs’ or from the political Salafists, religious fundamentalists and communal groups. So far, there has been no news that can lessen the economic burden for the farmers and the lower and middle income classes. Poverty and unemployment have both increased. The law and order went down the hill. Keeping national interests intact in various agreements with foreign parties is yet to be achieved. Most of the corrupt business mafias who bleed the economy dry under the Awami fascist regime are yet to be made legally accountable.

On one side, the ‘government party’, as an advisor mistakenly referred to some party, is enjoying state protection in all of their activities. In social media, people assumed that the advisor was talking about the National Citizen’s Party. The government continued to comply with the unjust demands of the mob or play the role of spectator in the cases of mob violence. No wonder the press secretary of the chief advisor labelled the ‘mob’ as a ‘pressure group’. On another side, it has become an everyday scenario that common people, who have been deprived for decades, are tired of the situation and are protesting on the streets for their rights or justice on a regular basis. Sadly, the government and some political actors apparently close to the current ruling quarter try to tag them as ‘collaborators of the fascist Awami League’. This political strategy of stigmatising and tagging political opponents and critics was the fallen Awami League’s strategy, yet it is still in use. Not only are the protesters subjected to hateful tagging, but they are also subjected to police batons, tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber bullets, even live bullets.

It is not a surprise that people’s hopes are waning. This is, however, not for the first time. Immediately after the independence, in 1972, historian and political analyst Altaf Parvez observed in his seminal work Mujib Bahini Theke Ganabahini: Itihaser Punarpath’ (From the Mujibahini to Ganabahini: Rereading History) that when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Bangladesh Awami League returned home, his popularity was sky high and his personality was unchallengeable. It did not take long for people to grow distant from the government. The Jatiya Samajtantrim Dal and Sarbahara Party became vocal against the Sheikh Mujibar Rahman-led government. Altaf Parvez, in his work, identified some of the governance and political economic failures that I am paraphrasing below:

— Rampant inflation led to an increase in prices of essential commodities. Prices of everything from rice to eggs, from baby foods to newsprint paper, spiralled.

— The then Awami League government was intolerant and ruthless to its critics. Opinions of the opposition were being labelled as ‘treason’.

— Any unjustified demands made by certain gun-wielding ‘mobs’ were fulfilled. For example, one such demand was for ‘permission’ to cheat in the public examinations, and it was allowed by the government. At that time Moulana Bhasani wrote in his Hoq Kotha, ‘It will not be possible to bring peace to the country for the next 25 years for these antisocial activities carried out by a group of miscreants in the name of Mujib Bahini or Muktibahini.

— No effective action was taken to control communal practices and the spread of sectarian ideology. The government just banned a couple of religion-based political parties. But those groups and their ideologically motivated activities were continuing in various forms. These hidden groups developed this tendency to criticise the freedom fighters at any cost.

— A planned dependency on India was observed.

— The exploiters, the rich Jotdars (landlords), remained untouched.

— The size of the illegal economy was progressively on the rise. Then there were austerity programmes.

— Serious deterioration of the law and order situation. In 1972, there were at least 4,200 incidents of robbery across the country. According to the Gonokantha, at least 1,467 incidents of assassination and 17,341 incidents of hijacking happened during the same period.

— Ten million people who crossed the border during the war of independence were privileged, whereas those who stayed inside the country and fought, taking huge risks, were neglected by the government. Crossing the border became the only standard for promotion. And thus a state-sponsored ‘otherisation programme’ was initiated. Observing the situation, Enayetullah Khan wrote an article at that time in Holiday titled ‘Sixty-five million collaborators’, mocking the ‘collaborators’ tagging of their time.

Now let us see what happened just after the people’s uprising in 1990. Anu Muhammad wrote in 1991 in his article titled ‘The Fall of the Ershad Regime: People’s Right, Power and New Possibilities’ (translated from Bangla): ‘Outrage is mounting among the public over the role played by the present caretaker government. Many are expressing their grief over lost hope. Many of the protesters who participated in that movement are now apprehensive about an uncertain future due to the government’s ‘inactive’ role. The legal accountability of Ershad and his associates is far from being realised; the majority of them are yet to be arrested. The lumpen-elites who became millionaires through plundering state properties are still at the centre of power. The corrupt generals and secretaries are untouched. The decisions are made to maintain the imperialist domination and control. ... Jamat-Shibir have started fresh killing. They are appearing on radio and television with greater arrogance due to ‘democracy’... In the name of so-called personal freedom, freedom of expression, tolerance and due to ‘democracy’ and constitutional process, these above-mentioned anti-people forces are given opportunities to develop themselves. ... Whereas, ‘for the sake of democracy’, the demands of the forces involved in the movement have not been accepted — even in principle.’

The above-mentioned stark similarities between the post-July uprising situation and those in 1972 and 1991 imply the trajectory of people’s struggle for democracy and emancipation. This repetition of people’s victory and defeat is the only truth of human history. Through this repetition, society achieves only one thing, which is ever increasingÌý — people’s collective experience and knowledge. This ever-increasing collective experience and knowledge is the ultimate progress of human society. And the ground from which we are able to measure this progress is TIME.ÌýObserving the repetition of a betrayal phase (as we are witnessing now), one might wonder if society is moving backward. So, what is the point of so much sacrifice? No change has occurred! But actually that is not the case. People’s collective knowledge enriches from each betrayal. The next generation of people learns from it, and that helps them to achieve the next victory.

From the experience of Sheikh Mujib’s regime (1972–1975), people learnt that a hero will not always remain a hero. They learnt how important it is to continue a free and fair election process and have a strong opposition. They also learnt how dangerous the militarisation of power can be. They also began to be aware of the characteristics of the newly emerging ruling class in Bangladesh. All of these major learnings helped people shape their next major struggle against Ershad’s autocratic military regime. The betrayal after the uprising in 1990 helped people to realise that only overthrowing an autocratic ruler is not a sufficient condition for democracy. They learnt about the danger of the so-called slogan — ‘ek dofa, dk dabi, padatyag’ (one point demand to resign). Therefore, during the last hours of Sheikh Hasina’s regime, people correctly demanded not only ‘ek dofa’ but also institutional reforms to secure democratic transformation. As things go, the interim government has failed. Reform or any meaningful change towards a democratic and equal society is still a distant reality. People will definitely learn from this episode of history and prepare for the next battle.

In such times of transition, betrayal and disappointment are not unprecedented in our history. The ruling elite are always afraid of people’s hope. They want us to be disappointed and give up on our hope. People’s hope is dangerous to their power-hungry scheme. History tells us we don’t need to be disappointed or give up on hope. At this moment, people have begun to realise that our bureaucracy, judiciary and fascist state mechanisms are not repairable with reforms. People have also begun to realise that there is a serious contradiction between the ruling elite’s vision of reform and democracy in this country — a contradiction that must be resolved. These hard-earned realisations will be the force for another uprising. And, next time, it will be a revolution.

So, I refuse to be disappointed. Another uprising is loading.

Ìý

Mahtab Uddin Ahmed is an activist, researcher and member of the Gonotantrik Odhikar Committee.