With extremists gaining power, human rights abuses surging, and regional stability at risk, Bangladesh is veering toward a Pakistan-style crisis that the international community can no longer afford to ignore. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/09/03/world/bangladesh-is-a-waiting-time-bomb/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #bangladesh #india #pakistan #muhammadyunus #sheikhhasina #religion #islam
Adam Greenfield
boosted
For Dhaka’s new elites—including many who seized prime Bihari properties in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods—the 1974 famine was little more than a distraction. People were dying on the streets, in open fields, and at train terminals, but it rarely stirred their humanity. Poor relatives knocked on their doors, pleading for a small tin of baby food or a cheap pair of trousers from state-run, subsidized Cosco stores. Millions were forced to queue in front of gruel kitchens and ration shops. Yet these indignities barely touched the lives of the privileged.
Bangladesh had never witnessed a humanitarian disaster on the scale of 1974. It was, without doubt, the darkest year in our history—our true annus horribilis. Still, for the elites, life went on as usual. When the nation marked the fiftieth anniversary of the famine, there were almost no books, essays, or articles in the major newspapers to commemorate the tragedy. The silence was deliberate. Media houses feared revisiting the greatest failure of Mujib during Hasina’s authoritarian rule. Instead, they worshipped Mujib with the same fervor the Red Guards once worshipped Mao during the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward.
In 2023, one of Mujib’s most ardent devotees published an essay on “Mujibonomics” in Whiteboard, a magazine run by Mujib’s grandson. But Mujib never had a coherent economic strategy. Writing about “Mujibonomics” was nothing more than shameless bootlicking of an inept leadership. The few scholars who addressed the famine with honesty were those whose humanity was scarred by that man-made catastrophe—figures like Mohiuddin Alamgir (not to be confused with the notorious Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir). Much of what we know about the disaster exists thanks to his scholarship.
The rest of Dhaka’s elites quietly erased the episode from memory—and, years later, just as quietly embraced and legitimized Hasina’s dictatorship.
- Shafiqul Alam
Press Secretary, CA
For Dhaka’s new elites—including many who seized prime Bihari properties in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods—the 1974 famine was little more than a distraction. People were dying on the streets, in open fields, and at train terminals, but it rarely stirred their humanity. Poor relatives knocked on their doors, pleading for a small tin of baby food or a cheap pair of trousers from state-run, subsidized Cosco stores. Millions were forced to queue in front of gruel kitchens and ration shops. Yet these indignities barely touched the lives of the privileged.
Bangladesh had never witnessed a humanitarian disaster on the scale of 1974. It was, without doubt, the darkest year in our history—our true annus horribilis. Still, for the elites, life went on as usual. When the nation marked the fiftieth anniversary of the famine, there were almost no books, essays, or articles in the major newspapers to commemorate the tragedy. The silence was deliberate. Media houses feared revisiting the greatest failure of Mujib during Hasina’s authoritarian rule. Instead, they worshipped Mujib with the same fervor the Red Guards once worshipped Mao during the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward.
In 2023, one of Mujib’s most ardent devotees published an essay on “Mujibonomics” in Whiteboard, a magazine run by Mujib’s grandson. But Mujib never had a coherent economic strategy. Writing about “Mujibonomics” was nothing more than shameless bootlicking of an inept leadership. The few scholars who addressed the famine with honesty were those whose humanity was scarred by that man-made catastrophe—figures like Mohiuddin Alamgir (not to be confused with the notorious Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir). Much of what we know about the disaster exists thanks to his scholarship.
The rest of Dhaka’s elites quietly erased the episode from memory—and, years later, just as quietly embraced and legitimized Hasina’s dictatorship.
- Shafiqul Alam
Press Secretary, CA
Fans of Starto Entertainment were targeted by a social media scam operating out of Bangladesh that aimed to steal their credit card information. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/14/japan/society/bangladesh-starto/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #bangladesh #startoentertainment #socialmedia
The former official residence of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, whose rule saw widespread human rights abuses, is being turned into a museum as a lasting reminder of her autocratic rule. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/04/asia-pacific/politics/bangladesh-pm-revolution-museum/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #politics #bangladesh #sheikhhasina
Global May Day: Tea workers in Bangladesh rally and get organized!
https://globalmayday.net/2025/07/22/twtuc-conference/
The Tea Workers’ Trade Union Center (TWTUC) commemorated its 1st National Conference at the Moulvibazar District Council Auditorium in Sreemangal on June 29th, 2025 with hundreds of workers coming together. […]
#News#TWTUCTeaWorkersBangladesh#Bangladesh#Teaworkers#TWTUC
A Bangladeshi fighter jet crashed into a school in Dhaka, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 170 in the country's deadliest aviation accident in decades. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/22/asia-pacific/bangladesh-jet-crash-school/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #bangladesh #airaccidents
China's Premier Li Qiang announced the start of construction on what will be the world's largest hydropower dam, located on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau and estimated to cost around $170 billion. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/21/asia-pacific/china-hydropower-dam-tibet/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #tibet #china #india #bangladesh
One year since protests ousted Bangladesh's PM, a geopolitical realignment risks intensifying polarization — and fears of external interference — ahead of elections next year. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/08/asia-pacific/politics/revolution-bangladesh-china-india/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #politics #bangladesh #china #india #southasia #sheikhhasina #muhammadyunus