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.
- Abeera Khan – SOAS, University of London
- Adam Elliott-Cooper – Queen Mary University of London
- Adam Whittock – Birkbeck College
- Adnan M. S. Fakir – University of Sussex
- Adriana Disman – Queen Mary University of London
- Adrija Dey – University of Westminster
- Agnes Flues – University of Nottingham
- Aicha Belkadi – SOAS
- Aine McKenny – University of Brighton
- Akram Salhab – Queen Mary University of London
- Alessandra Mezzadri – SOAS
- Alison Higgs – Open University
- Althea-Maria Rivas – SOAS
- Angel Taggart – University of Life
- Anais Walsdorf – University of Warwick
- Andreas Bieler – University of Nottingham
- Angelle – University of Cape Coast
- Andrew Newsham – SOAS
- Angela Daly – University of Dundee
- Angela Sherwood – Queen Mary University of London
- Angus McNelly – University of Greenwich
- Anneke Newman – University of Ghent
- Annie Goh – UAL
- Antonia Dawes – King’s College London
- Antonio Padilla – University of Nottingham
- Archie Davies – Queen Mary University of London
- Ashok Kumar – Birkbeck
- Aswathi Rebecca Asok – University of Portsmouth
- Badrunnessa Putul – Institute of Development Studies
- Bava Dharani – University of Sussex
- Ben Scott – Nottingham Trent University
- Ben Wiedel-Kaufmann – The Open University
- Beth Bramich – University of the Arts London
- Caleb Day – Durham University
- Callum Cant – University of Essex
- Cannach MacBride – University of the Arts London
- Catherine Gegout – University of Nottingham
- Cecilia Testa – University of Nottingham
- Chitra Sangtani – University of Edinburgh
- Chloe Skinner – Institute of Development Studies
- Chris Moffat – Queen Mary University of London
- Christian Tonner – Goldsmiths University
- Christopher Cramer – SOAS
- Clare Qualmann – University of East London
- Claudine Grisard – Queen Mary University of London
- Clive Gabay – Queen Mary University of London
- Colette Harris – SOAS
- Daniel Brown – LSE (PhD)
- David Thomas – Birkbeck College, University of London
- David Wilson – Loughborough
- Deivi Norberg – Queen Mary University of London
- Dr. Francesca Savoldi – TUD
- Dr. Ken Fero – Coventry University
- Dr. Koshka Duff – University of Nottingham
- Dr. Onni Gust – University of Nottingham
- Dr. Saio Gradin – King’s College London
- Dr. Tanzil Chowdhury – Queen Mary University of London
- Dr. Thomas MacManus – Queen Mary University of London
- Dylan Carver – University of Oxford
- Ed Hood – SOAS University of London
- Ekabali Ghosh – SOAS
- Elena Baglioni – QMUL
- Elisa T. Bertuzzo – Independent Researcher
- Ellen Jia – SOAS
- Elsa Kienberger – Goldsmiths
- Engin Isin – Queen Mary University of London
- Emma Frampton – SOAS
- Evan Sedgwick-Jell – Birkbeck University of London
- Fabian Maier – University of Nottingham
- Farhana Usha – UCL
- Fatima Rajina – De Montfort University
- Feyzi Ismail – Goldsmiths, University of London
- Gabriella Cioce – University of Sheffield
- Gareth Dale – Brunel University
- Gargi Bhattacharyya – University of the Arts
- Gertjan Lucas – University of Nottingham
- Gilbert Achcar – SOAS
- Hannah Kemp-Welch – UAL
- Hajra Williams – University of Brighton
- Heba Youssef – University of Brighton
- Helen Murray – King’s College London
- Hilary James – Open University
- Isaac Banjoko – University of the Arts London
- Isadora Araujo – Queen Mary University of London
- Jack McGinn -London School of Economics
- Jake Smaje – London School of Economics
- James E. Pearson-Jenkins – King’s College London
- Jamie Doucette – The University of Manchester
- Jamie Woodcock – University of Essex
- Jenna Marshall – King’s College London
- Jennifer Warren – Goldsmiths, University of London
- Jenny Elliott – University of Nottingham
- Joanna Orr – Queen Mary University of London
- Jo Kreft – University of Birmingham
- Joe Kearsey – University of Nottingham
- John Narayan – King’s College London
- Julia Ryng – London School of Economics and Political Science
- Kalpana Wilson – Birkbeck, University of London
- Kambiz Boomla – Queen Mary University of London
- Kanika Sharma – SOAS University of London
- Kani Kamil – Manchester Metropolitan University
- Karen Middleton – University of Portsmouth
- Kaveri Medappa – University of Oxford
- Kerem Nisancioglu – SOAS University of London
- Kim Noce – UAL
- L. Scott Blankenship – University of Nottingham
- Laura Maghețiu – Queen Mary University of London
- Layli Uddin -Queen Mary University of London
- Leyla Neyzi – University of Glasgow
- Liam Campling – Queen Mary University of London
- Linda Westman – University of Sheffield
- Lisa Rull – University of Nottingham
- Lisa Tilley – SOAS
- Laleh Khalili – University of Exeter
- Leyla Neyzi – University of Glasgow
- Lopa Leach – University of Nottingham
- Louise Rolland – University of Essex
- Miri Debah – Individual
- Lucas Cifuentes – University of Manchester
- Luisa Calvete Portela Barbosa – SOAS University of London
- Mairead Enright – University of Birmingham
- Manasa Gade – University of Edinburgh
- Mandeep Sidhu – University of Brighton
- Manikantha Nataraj – Strathclyde University
- Margaret Remana – Goldsmiths
- Maria Julia Soul – CEIL CONICET
- Mark Loop – Queen Mary University of London
- Marral Shamshiri – LSE
- Matthew Lee – UCL
- Maximilian Hofmann – Queen Mary University of London
- Mazen Masri – City, University of London
- Michaela Collord – University of Nottingham
- Miqdad Asaria – LSE
- Mohammed Elnaiem – University of Cambridge
- Muna Haddad – QMUL
- Musab Younis – Queen Mary University of London
- Naaz Rashid – University of Sussex
- Nabeela Ahmed – University of Sheffield
- Nadine El-Enany – University of Kent
- Naomi Hossain – SOAS
- Naomi Smart – King’s College London
- Nasima Akter – University College London
- Natalie Langford – University of Sheffield
- Nate George – SOAS University of London
- Navtej Purewal – SOAS University of London
- Neil Chadborn – University of Nottingham
- Neve Gordon – Queen Mary University of London
- Nicola Pratt – University of Warwick
- Nikki Izadi – KCL
- Nipa Gazi – University of South Wales
- Nivedita N – PhD, Birkbeck College
- Olusola Joel Olorunfemi – University of Kassel
- Oruna Motlib – University of Roehampton
- Ozge Ozduzen – University of Sheffield
- Paolo Novak – SOAS
- Poppy McNulty-Ho – SOAS
- Priyamvada Gopal – University of Cambridge
- Patrick Neveling – Bournemouth University
- Paula Serafini – QMUL
- Phil Abbot – Northumbria
- Philipp Horn – University of Sheffield
- Poulami Somanya Ganguly – Queen Mary University of London
- Prof Bill Bowring – Birkbeck, University of London
- Professor David Whyte – Queen Mary University of London
- Rachel Leong – SOAS
- Rachel Wilson – Goldsmiths University of London
- Rahila Haque – University of the Arts London
- Rebecca Ruth Gould – SOAS
- Rehana Zaman – Goldsmiths University of London
- Shihan – University of Oxford
- Shruti Iyer – University of Oxford
- Ricardo F Macip – BUAP
- Riccardo Jaede – LSE
- Richard Goulding – University of Sheffield
- Roberto Veneziani – Queen Mary University of London
- Ros Taplin – SOAS University of London
- Sym – Queen Mary University of London
- Sadhvi Dar – Queen Mary University of London
- Sai Englert – Leiden University
- Samia Khatun – SOAS University of London
- Sam Burgum – Birmingham City University
- Sanzida – University of East London
- Samira Homerang Saunders – Queen Mary University of London
- Samreen Mushtaq – Institute of Development Studies
- Sarah Kunz – University of Essex
- Satoshi Miyamura – SOAS University of London
- Sazid Ahmad – London School of Economics and Political Science
- Sean Wallis – University College London
- Serena Mitchell – King’s College London
- Sergio Calderón Harker – Birkbeck, University of London
- Shabnam Nawaz – KCL
- Shanjita Shawrin – University of Portsmouth
- Shantona Chowdhury – UOSD
- Sharaiz Chaudhry, University of Edinburgh
- Shreeta Lakhani – SOAS
- Sita Balani – Queen Mary University of London
- Sophie Chamas – SOAS University of London
- Stephen Bouquin – Universite P Saclay
- Students’ Federation of India – United Kingdom
- Subir Sinha – SOAS
- Suzy Fitzpatrick – York St John University
- Syma Tariq – University of the Arts London
- Tania Kaiser – SOAS
- Tanroop Sandhu – Queen Mary University of London
- Tariq Mehmood – American university of Beirut
- Tessa Wright – Queen Mary University of London
- Thomas Sotiriou – University of Nottingham
- Tom Cowan – University of Nottingham
- Victoria Karlsson – Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- Valeria Racu – SOAS University of London
- Virinder Kalra – University of Warwick
- William Crosby – Anglia Ruskin University
- Yaiza Hernández Velázquez – Goldsmiths, University of London
- Yasmeen Narayan – Birkbeck, University of London
- Yesim Deveci – University of East London
- Zafer Ornek – Queen Mary University of London
- Zara Dinnen – Queen Mary University of London