Whether it is a party that markets itself as the sole heir of 1971, or a hardline movement that once mocked that struggle and now sanitizes its record, the exploitation is the same. Both seek to convert freedom into political capital. Both demand that citizens forget what they saw and felt. Both ask us to trade memory for myth.
The question for a republic is whether it can learn to look away from the dazzling, authoritarian image long enough to see -- and rebuild -- the dull, demanding, and essential foundations of a reality-based politics.
The decision for Bangladesh is simply this: Either we recognize what is happening to our degree of liberty now, or we will soon read about it in the pages of history books as if it is a novel about something that was simply unavoidable.
The crown cat becomes a single blood cell in the circulatory system of the algorithmic beast. Nusrat doesn’t remember the cat meme today. Not consciously.
The country is no longer simply divided by class and by geography. It is now divided into four different kinds of society defined by education, language, migration, and access to power: expatriates, English-medium graduates, Bangla-medium graduates, and Madrasa-educated students.
In the past decade, a number of books have appeared on Bangladesh’s Liberation War. This essay covers three volumes focusing on the war from within the lens of conflict studies and great game manuevering -- by Gary J Bass, Srinath Raghavan, and Salil Tripathi.
Bangladesh is once again caught between its tradition of mixed, tolerant culture and the growing push for strict Salafist ideas — a struggle now shaping the country’s identity
To understand Bangladesh 2025, it’s helpful to know what happened in Bengal in 1905, where it all began. We need to know who we are and where we came from if we hope to chart a path to a better future.
Their burnout is not a personal failing. It is a symptom of a culture that confuses motion with meaning. If a generation is exhausted before life begins, the problem is not them. It is the world we have collectively built around them.
As the country gears up for what is going to be the most consequential national election in its independent history, a locally grown form of online harm, deliberately engineered to fuel targeted disinformation campaigns and rampant misinformation among a largely digitally illiterate population, is posing a serious threat to its efforts to transition from authoritarianism to democracy.
How revolutionary aspiration transformed into an elite settlement
You can't defeat Dhaka traffic. But these tunes can minimize your pain.
The demographic dividend is not destiny -- it’s a choice. Bangladesh has 15 years to act, but the window shrinks daily. Without a bold vision, this youth bulge could ignite unrest rather than prosperity, echoing the Arab Spring’s unfulfilled promise.
Societies that silence dissent eventually silence innovation, justice, and even hope. The cemetery of nations is filled not with those who spoke too much, but with those who spoke too little.
1971 is not only the history of a time; it is the foundation of our national identity, which must constantly be re-read, understood, and preserved. Re-reading the Liberation War of 1971 in the context of the current times and its challenges is the need of the hour.
Democracy depends on two simple protections: that people can speak, and that they will not be killed for speaking. In Bangladesh, labeling someone a nastik is painting a target on his back, and should be seen for the incitement to violence that it is.
