Is Bangladesh a democracy?
With that question out of the way, another one that begs to be asked is, if a bit existentially, what are we? Where does this tiny delta of ours situate itself in the space of power structure and governance?
First off, in order for a nation state to be democratic, free and fair elections are required in which citizens use their power to vote in order to choose or replace their governing bodies. While the power to vote is indeed in our hands, the last elections -- which took place with a voter turnout of about 22%, with the lead opposition swiftly out of the way -- found the incumbent still watching the throne.
Active participation of citizens -- whether by voting in city corporations elections or by taking to the streets to protest -- have been seen throughout the years, irrespective of which party held power.
So far, so good. Low voter turnout still means there are people out there who are voting, even if the grapevines whisper (not so quietly) of rigging and tampering and what have you.
Another strong tenet of democracy is rule of law, which must have a nation’s laws be applicable equally to all citizens. We need not look so far back to test this one -- only last month we saw weapon-wielding, helmet-donned men flock to the streets in a violent frenzy to bring down the seemingly peaceful students, protesting their right to not die on the roads. These men were seen being aided by the police, while a number of students were, in fact, detained.
There goes the rule of law, along with protection of human rights, which is also another credo for what we hope our country is, and what has been under fire for far too long.
Along with that, new laws regarding online speech as draconian and harmful -- if not more -- as the ones they are replacing, show that freedom of expression too is under attack.
With these occurrences, especially those which have transpired over this past year, citizens are now more aware of the diminishing power they are to hold. And more confused than ever.
On the one hand, for real progress to take place, we need time. If history is anything to go by, we know that whichever direction the authorities in place want to steer the country towards would only be stopped dead in the tracks should another party take over.
And the incumbent truly has allowed some remarkable progress to take place in the country. We’ve seen Bangladesh soar higher than ever in the global economy, outperforming many of our neighbours. There’s even a small bit of Bangladesh in outer space.
Even on an intangible level, we’ve seen incredible efforts by the current administration in areas which do not directly benefit the economy per se -- it has taken climate change seriously, and shown that while the rest of the world remains inert on the most persecuted minority, Bangladesh will share the little space it has with those in need.
That being said, on the other hand remains the constant push and pull by the governing body between keeping in line “with the progressive aspirations of mankind” -- as per the constitution -- and snowballing right into a totalitarian state of rule.
From forced disappearances to shoddy methods of taking out supposed “drug lords” to having peaceful protesters beaten down by BCL cadres, the current administration does not necessarily have the cleanest ledger.
And if we are to remind ourselves of the kindness we’ve extended to the Rohingya, then we must also remind ourselves of the kindness we’ve kept from those in the Hill Tracts for decades.
As the elections draw nearer, those who still believe in the fundamental power of democracy and are planning to vote must remain aware of these ambiguities. While the legitimacy of the voter turnout, and indeed the outcome of the votes hang in the air, we might owe it to ourselves to keep alive the hope that the power of the people isn’t gone forever.
Luba Khalili is an Editorial Assistant at the Dhaka Tribune.