Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 223 posts

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#131

Post by vinnyvichy »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #130

It is really odd to me that Bangladesh even exists as a nation, and that it is an officially Islamic nation. This country was formed as a result of the partition of India, where the British empire left a mess on their way out by subdividing India into what is now Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. But really these countries should be recombined into India - their status as religious ethnostates is unacceptable in the m…

Mostly under the (non-)guidance of one Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the one described as "every inch the King".

https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article/25/1/89/151/Gene...

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#132

Post by jtbayly »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #2

I think it's worth noting why this is happening. The country has been giving out degrees and jobs to people who instead of working and studying hard, to descendants of veterans in the country's war against pakistan, and this level of nepotism has been going on since the 70s which as you can easily imagine is not great for those who see the value in getting these "basic livelihood for hard work" things. So when people…

Talking about why it is happening is helpful.

I’m just surprised nobody is talking about the reason the government claims it has limited access to information: preventing disinformation.

Not a single person here has commented about disinformation, but it is the single most applicable part of this article for Americans.

Preventing the spread of disinformation has been the supposed in the last decade reason for the largest censorship campaigns our nation has ever seen.

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#133

Post by ridiculous_leke »

Foofoobar12345 wrote: post #36

A friend of mine who works in a startup in Bangladesh tells me that critical infrastructure is being set on fire indiscriminately. Buildings such as data centers. He shared videos of many such burning buildings. The country doesn’t yet have resilient infrastructure. For example, internet and telecommunication go through a single point of failure. Last year, that building was accidentally set on fire and it led to 2 w…

South Asia is a messy place. Governments do have a terrible human rights record but these governments are democratically elected and are clearly a representation of the general sentiment.

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#134

Post by ridiculous_leke »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #46
Foofoobar12345 wrote: post #36

A friend of mine who works in a startup in Bangladesh tells me that critical infrastructure is being set on fire indiscriminately. Buildings such as data centers. He shared videos of many such burning buildings. The country doesn’t yet have resilient infrastructure. For example, internet and telecommunication go through a single point of failure. Last year, that building was accidentally set on fire and it led to 2 w…

> Ideally protests should be peaceful. Other people in the thread are saying that Bangladesh is a dictatorship, and security forces are killing people for protesting. Just to be clear, if that's the case, violence against the state is entirely justified. There is nothing morally wrong about rebelling against autocracy, in fact, it's quite a good thing.

> Just to be clear, if that's the case, violence against the state is entirely justified. There is nothing morally wrong about rebelling against autocracy, in fact, it's quite a good thing.

Only if you have evidence against the state. Otherwise the state (which always has more resources) is going to take it to the next level.

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#135

Post by [deleted] »

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #113
david_shi wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reminds me a lot of the Red Guards - the greatest disaster could come from the party losing control of these groups.

The original Indian and Pakistani founders had Soviet education and influences. Moreover the Comintern was one of the only fora at the time that was openly in support of decolonization. The similarities aren't coincidental.

[deleted]

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#136

Post by newsclues »

david_shi wrote: post #109
alephnerd wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slight quibble - the student paramilitary IS part of Hasina's party (BAP). It's the student wing. In South Asia, all party student wings are basically paramilitaries and gangs.

It reminds me a lot of the Red Guards - the greatest disaster could come from the party losing control of these groups.

Reminds me of the summer of 2020 in America

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#137

Post by abdullahkhalids »

trompetenaccoun wrote: post #102
alephnerd wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now the fascist gov has closed all internet I agree that Sheikh Hasina is extremely authoritarian and corrupt dictator but imo JeI are the actual fascists, and the BNP has absolutely been enabling them. That said, I agree with you that Hasina's authoritarianism needs to end. Ideally all these old fossils (Hasina, Zia, Rahman, etc) need to be purged and the actual youth (who are the majority of Bangladesh) get a cha…

Independent of points for or against their rule, the ageist argument makes little sense. 25 year olds are generally politically naive and easily manipulated. The average person in their twenties has no idea about economics, geopolitics or other such topics that are important to understand for running a country. When you look at uprisings against ancient leaders in countries with very young populations, they regularly…

GP didn't say that 25 years should become the elected leaders. But Sheikh Hasina (the current PM since 2008) was the leader of the opposition in 1986 at 39 years old [1], and then first became PM in 1996 at 49 years old. The ones who were PM from 1986 to today were all born in the 1940s [2].

Same is the case in Pakistan. Every prime minister since 1988 was born in the 40s or early 50s [3]. India's PMs have, on the other hand, been from even an older generation [4].

This post-independence generation captured all the political power in their 40s, and refuse to give it up 40 years later. Is it not reasonable to demand that the PM and Cabinet today are largely in their 40s?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hasina

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_ministers_of_Ban...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_ministers_of_Pak...

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_ministers_of_Ind...

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#138

Post by rayiner »

alephnerd wrote: post #54
hackerlytest wrote: post #14

Some context: Students are protesting to reform the quota system. Which was abolished in 2018 after protest but recently brought back again. The Quota system basically reserves 56% of public sector jobs, i.e. 30% to relatives of war veteran. The war happened in 1971. To get public job and avail the quota, it must be their 3rd or 4th generation now. Which is plain unfair. But it’s not about that, the gov loyalists and…

> Now the fascist gov has closed all internet I agree that Sheikh Hasina is extremely authoritarian and corrupt dictator but imo JeI are the actual fascists, and the BNP has absolutely been enabling them. That said, I agree with you that Hasina's authoritarianism needs to end. Ideally all these old fossils (Hasina, Zia, Rahman, etc) need to be purged and the actual youth (who are the majority of Bangladesh) get a cha…

That’s a terrible idea and would set Bangladesh back generations. Hasina is authoritarian, but Bangladeshis need someone like her to run such a disorderly population. She’s not Lee Kuan Yew, but she’s the best in that direction Bangladesh can hope for. And a third-rate copy of LKY is a hell of a lot better than whatever Islamic socialist would replace her.

Re: Bangladesh imposes curfew after dozens killed in anti-government protests

#139

Post by nradov »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #130

It is really odd to me that Bangladesh even exists as a nation, and that it is an officially Islamic nation. This country was formed as a result of the partition of India, where the British empire left a mess on their way out by subdividing India into what is now Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. But really these countries should be recombined into India - their status as religious ethnostates is unacceptable in the m…

I doubt that most Indians would want to be "recombined" with Pakistan and Bangladesh. What's in it for them?
Post reply on HN