Over 200 British university academics, workers and student groups have declared their solidarity with the student movement in Bangladesh that has emerged in light of quota reform protests.
They are also calling for an end to the Bangladeshi government’s repression of students, as well as to the British government’s training of Bangladeshi police forces like the notorious Rapid Action Battalion unit (RAB). 

The statement, coordinated by the UK Bangladeshi organisation Nijjor Manush, is published amidst growing repression of faculty in Bangladesh engaging with student protestors

Highlighting the progressive role of student movements historically, the statement stresses the links between recent student mass mobilisation in both Bangladesh and in Britain, such as the student encampment movement in solidarity with Palestinians, as well as the draconian response from the government and universities in both instances.

The signatories call for academics and university workers in Bangladesh to lend their solidarity to their students, and affirms their support the the deepening of democratic struggle in Bangladesh.

A spokesperson from Nijjor Manush, which coordinated the statement, says:

“Bangladeshis in the diaspora have been outraged by the brutal response of the Bangladeshi government to the current student movement.

It has exposed the thinly-veiled contempt of the Bangladeshi government towards its people and their democratic aspirations. On this, the Bangladeshi government can find common ground with our own government here in Britain – given the British state’s training and support for the notorious Rapid Action Battalion police unit, and recent joint agreement between the two governments to expedite the deportation of Bangladeshi asylum seekers from Britain.

We call for an end to the British government’s complicity with state violence in Bangladesh, and express our support for the deepening of popular democratic struggle in Bangladesh by students, workers, peasants and the oppressed as the antidote to the oppressive rule of the Awami League government”.

Dr. Adnan Fakir, lecturer at the University of Sussex says:

“As Bangladeshi academics in Britain, we extend our full solidarity and support to students currently on the frontline in Bangladesh, and call on our counterparts in Bangladeshi universities to support their students.

The re-emergence of the quota reform movement – and the draconian response to it – has seen the arrested ambitions of students and youth in Bangladesh, facing large scale unemployment and inequitable access to public sector employment, reveal the widespread discontent with the ruling dispensation in Bangladesh. The government needs to publicly acknowledge, apologize, and provide justice for the martyrs of the movement in order for the nation to move forward. The collective memory of the draconian acts, without proper justice and political reformation, will only lead to repeated cycles of the horror that has transpired.

The task of transforming society cannot be shouldered by students alone. It is one that can only be carried through by the students of Bangladesh alongside the peasants, the workers and the oppressed.”

As university workers in the UK we stand in full solidarity with the current Bangladeshi student movement, and against the brutal repression by the Bangladeshi state against reform protestors.

Through history, student movements can and have taken on a life of their own and strike at heart of deeper social and political malaises in their society.

We recognise that students’ demands for reform of the civil service reservation quota for descendants of veterans speak to the wider issues of rampant cronyism and corruption of the Bangladeshi government, as well as high rates of unemployment and inactivity, and diminishing possibilities for youth in Bangladesh.

The savage repression of the movement, through police forces, the notorious Rapid Action Battalion and the ruling party’s student wing, starkly underscores the suffocation of political life under the government of Sheikh Hasina. 

We support the democratic aspirations of students and workers in Bangladesh, and encourage academics and university workers in Bangladesh to lend their solidarity to their students also.

We also recognise how the repression of students and youth in Bangladesh mirrors the escalating repression against the rising tide of student movements in British universities, including most recently student encampments in solidarity with Palestine across dozens of universities.

And we acknowledge the interconnection between state violence in Bangladesh and Britain – especially with the training provided to the Rapid Action Battalion by Britain, which have become notorious for extrajudicial killings, and are currently engaged in the repression of Bangladeshi youth.
 

Therefore we stand as Bangladeshis and non-Bangladeshis, as those working within universities, in solidarity with the Bangladeshi student movement: for their demands for a more just reform of the quota system, for the deepening of democratic struggle in Bangladesh, and for an end to British complicity in the Bangladeshi state’s violent repression. 

1. Abeera Khan – SOAS, University of London
2. Adam Elliott-Cooper – Queen Mary University of London
3. Adam Whittock – Birkbeck College
4. Adnan M. S. Fakir – University of Sussex
5. Adriana Disman –  Queen Mary University of London
6. Adrija Dey – University of Westminster
7. Agnes Flues – University of Nottingham
8. Aicha Belkadi – SOAS
9. Aine McKenny – University of Brighton
10. Akram Salhab – Queen Mary University of London
11. Alessandra Mezzadri – SOAS
12. Alison Higgs – Open University
13. Althea-Maria Rivas – SOAS
14. Angel Taggart – University of Life
15. Anais Walsdorf – University of Warwick
16. Andreas Bieler – University of Nottingham
17. Angelle – University of Cape Coast
18. Andrew Newsham – SOAS
19. Angela Daly – University of Dundee
20. Angela Sherwood – Queen Mary University of London
21. Angus McNelly – University of Greenwich
22. Anneke Newman – University of Ghent
23. Annie Goh – UAL
24. Antonia Dawes – King’s College London
25. Antonio Padilla – University of Nottingham
26. Archie Davies – Queen Mary University of London
27. Ashok Kumar – Birkbeck
28. Aswathi Rebecca Asok – University of Portsmouth
29. Badrunnessa Putul – Institute of Development Studies
30. Bava Dharani – University of Sussex 
31. Ben Scott – Nottingham Trent University
32. Ben Wiedel-Kaufmann – The Open University
33. Beth Bramich – University of the Arts London
34. Caleb Day – Durham University
35. Callum Cant – University of Essex
36. Cannach MacBride – University of the Arts London
37. Catherine Gegout – University of Nottingham
38. Cecilia Testa – University of Nottingham
39. Chitra Sangtani – University of Edinburgh
40. Chloe Skinner – Institute of Development Studies
41. Chris Moffat – Queen Mary University of London
42. Christian Tonner – Goldsmiths University
43. Christopher Cramer – SOAS
44. Clare Qualmann – University of East London
45. Claudine Grisard – Queen Mary University of London
46. Clive Gabay – Queen Mary University of London
47. Colette Harris – SOAS
48. Daniel Brown – LSE (PhD)
49. David Thomas – Birkbeck College, University of London
50. David Wilson – Loughborough
51. Deivi Norberg – Queen Mary University of London
52. Dr. Francesca Savoldi – TUD
53. Dr. Ken Fero – Coventry University
54. Dr. Koshka Duff – University of Nottingham
55. Dr. Onni Gust – University of Nottingham
56. Dr. Saio Gradin – King’s College London
57. Dr. Tanzil Chowdhury – Queen Mary University of London
58. Dr. Thomas MacManus – Queen Mary University of London
59. Dylan Carver – University of Oxford
60. Ed Hood – SOAS University of London
61. Ekabali Ghosh – SOAS
62. Elena Baglioni – QMUL
63. Elisa T. Bertuzzo – Independent Researcher
64. Ellen Jia – SOAS
65. Elsa Kienberger – Goldsmiths
66. Engin Isin – Queen Mary University of London
67. Emma Frampton – SOAS
68. Evan Sedgwick-Jell – Birkbeck University of London
69. Fabian Maier – University of Nottingham
70. Farhana Usha – UCL
71. Fatima Rajina – De Montfort University
72. Feyzi Ismail – Goldsmiths, University of London
73. Gabriella Cioce – University of Sheffield
74. Gareth Dale – Brunel University
75. Gargi Bhattacharyya – University of the Arts
76. Gertjan Lucas – University of Nottingham
77. Gilbert Achcar – SOAS
78. Hannah Kemp-Welch – UAL
79. Hajra Williams – University of Brighton
80. Heba Youssef – University of Brighton
81. Helen Murray – King’s College London
82. Hilary James – Open University
83. Isaac Banjoko – University of the Arts London
84. Isadora Araujo – Queen Mary University of London
85. Jack McGinn -London School of Economics
86. Jake Smaje – London School of Economics
87. James E. Pearson-Jenkins – King’s College London
88. Jamie Doucette – The University of Manchester
89. Jamie Woodcock – University of Essex
90. Jenna Marshall – King’s College London
91. Jennifer Warren – Goldsmiths, University of London
92. Jenny Elliott – University of Nottingham
93. Joanna Orr – Queen Mary University of London
94. Jo Kreft – University of Birmingham
95. Joe Kearsey – University of Nottingham
96. John Narayan – King’s College London
97. Julia Ryng – London School of Economics and Political Science
98. Kalpana Wilson – Birkbeck, University of London
99. Kambiz Boomla – Queen Mary University of London
100. Kanika Sharma – SOAS University of London
101. Kani Kamil – Manchester Metropolitan University
102. Karen Middleton – University of Portsmouth
103. Kaveri Medappa – University of Oxford
104. Kerem Nisancioglu – SOAS University of London
105. Kim Noce – UAL
106. L. Scott Blankenship – University of Nottingham
107. Laura Maghețiu – Queen Mary University of London
108. Layli Uddin -Queen Mary University of London
109. Leyla Neyzi – University of Glasgow
110. Liam Campling – Queen Mary University of London
111. Linda Westman – University of Sheffield
112. Lisa Rull – University of Nottingham
113. Lisa Tilley – SOAS
114. Laleh Khalili – University of Exeter
115. Leyla Neyzi – University of Glasgow
116. Lopa Leach – University of Nottingham
117. Louise Rolland – University of Essex
118. Miri Debah – Individual
119. Lucas Cifuentes – University of Manchester
120. Luisa Calvete Portela Barbosa – SOAS University of London
121. Mairead Enright – University of Birmingham
122. Manasa Gade – University of Edinburgh
123. Mandeep Sidhu – University of Brighton
124. Manikantha Nataraj – Strathclyde University
125. Margaret Remana – Goldsmiths
126. Maria Julia Soul – CEIL CONICET
127. Mark Loop – Queen Mary University of London
128. Marral Shamshiri – LSE
129. Matthew Lee – UCL
130. Maximilian Hofmann – Queen Mary University of London
131. Mazen Masri – City, University of London
132. Michaela Collord – University of Nottingham
133. Miqdad Asaria – LSE
134. Mohammed Elnaiem – University of Cambridge
135. Muna Haddad – QMUL
136. Musab Younis – Queen Mary University of London
137. Naaz Rashid – University of Sussex
138. Nabeela Ahmed – University of Sheffield
139. Nadine El-Enany – University of Kent
140. Naomi Hossain – SOAS
141. Naomi Smart – King’s College London
142. Nasima Akter – University College London
143. Natalie Langford – University of Sheffield
144. Nate George – SOAS University of London
145. Navtej Purewal – SOAS University of London
146. Neil Chadborn – University of Nottingham
147. Neve Gordon – Queen Mary University of London
148. Nicola Pratt – University of Warwick
149. Nikki Izadi – KCL
150. Nipa Gazi – University of South Wales
151. Nivedita N – PhD, Birkbeck College
152. Olusola Joel Olorunfemi – University of Kassel
153. Oruna Motlib – University of Roehampton
154. Ozge Ozduzen – University of Sheffield
155. Paolo Novak – SOAS
156. Poppy McNulty-Ho – SOAS
157. Priyamvada Gopal – University of Cambridge
158. Patrick Neveling – Bournemouth University
159. Paula Serafini – QMUL
160. Phil Abbot – Northumbria
161. Philipp Horn – University of Sheffield
162. Poulami Somanya Ganguly – Queen Mary University of London
163. Prof Bill Bowring – Birkbeck, University of London
164. Professor David Whyte – Queen Mary University of London
165. Rachel Leong – SOAS
166. Rachel Wilson – Goldsmiths University of London
167. Rahila Haque – University of the Arts London 
168. Rebecca Ruth Gould – SOAS
169. Rehana Zaman – Goldsmiths University of London
170. Shihan – University of Oxford
171. Shruti Iyer – University of Oxford
172. Ricardo F Macip – BUAP
173. Riccardo Jaede – LSE
174. Richard Goulding – University of Sheffield
175. Roberto Veneziani – Queen Mary University of London
176. Ros Taplin – SOAS University of London
177. Sym – Queen Mary University of London
178. Sadhvi Dar – Queen Mary University of London
179. Sai Englert – Leiden University
180. Samia Khatun – SOAS University of London
181. Sam Burgum – Birmingham City University
182. Sanzida – University of East London
183. Samira Homerang Saunders – Queen Mary University of London
184. Samreen Mushtaq – Institute of Development Studies
185. Sarah Kunz – University of Essex
186. Satoshi Miyamura – SOAS University of London
187. Sazid Ahmad – London School of Economics and Political Science
188. Sean Wallis – University College London
189. Serena Mitchell – King’s College London
190. Sergio Calderón Harker – Birkbeck, University of London
191. Shabnam Nawaz – KCL
192. Shanjita Shawrin – University of Portsmouth
193. Shantona Chowdhury – UOSD
194. Sharaiz Chaudhry, University of Edinburgh
195. Shreeta Lakhani – SOAS
196. Sita Balani – Queen Mary University of London
197. Sophie Chamas – SOAS University of London
198. Stephen Bouquin – Universite P Saclay
199. Students’ Federation of India – United Kingdom
200. Subir Sinha – SOAS
201. Suzy Fitzpatrick – York St John University
202. Syma Tariq – University of the Arts London
203. Tania Kaiser – SOAS
204. Tanroop Sandhu – Queen Mary University of London
205. Tariq Mehmood – American university of Beirut 
206. Tessa Wright – Queen Mary University of London
207. Thomas Sotiriou – University of Nottingham
208. Tom Cowan – University of Nottingham
209. Victoria Karlsson – Guildhall School of Music and Drama 
210. Valeria Racu – SOAS University of London
211. Virinder Kalra – University of Warwick
212. William Crosby – Anglia Ruskin University
213. Yaiza Hernández Velázquez – Goldsmiths, University of London
214. Yasmeen Narayan – Birkbeck, University of London
215. Yesim Deveci – University of East London
216. Zafer Ornek – Queen Mary University of London
217. Zara Dinnen – Queen Mary University of London