Recently, a local online news portal, in its headline, said that home-owners in Sylhet had completely shut their doors to young tenants.
A home-owner, who runs a mess business in Sylhet, apparently issued a verbal notice to all bachelors, who reside in his building, to leave immediately. Most of the youth in the city are quite uncertain about potential accommodation.
A student of Eastern University, attending a roundtable meeting on August 4, mentioned that home-owners in Dhaka have become hesitant to accept unmarried young folk as tenants.
These stories clearly indicate that our youths, especially in urban areas, have started facing an unprecedented phase of social exclusion as an outcome of the dreadful incident at Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery.
The attack reasonably stimulated folks to continuously express concern. Unfortunately, ongoing discussions over violent religion-based extremism repeatedly point fingers at the youth -- some even recommend putting them under special surveillance.
Increasing unwillingness among home-owners to accept young people as tenants is one of the examples of a new form of social exclusion. Evolving perceptions of religious extremism have led many to consider students of private universities and even English-medium schools as potential threats.
Losing trust in the potential of the youth is perhaps the biggest social sin and political crime, in this regard. This is a new form of social, political, and cultural malaise that previously never existed in Bangladesh.
It’s true that the monsters behind the July 1 tragedy were youths, ditto for the Sholakia incident. Also true is that the terrorists who were killed during a successful raid by the law enforcment agencies in Kalyanpur were youths. Let’s not forget that a majority of those who have remained missing for a long time are youths as well.
This isn’t looking very good for youths, I know.
We need to reinforce an inclusive approach in our community and society that will nurture our youths’ potential to do good, and keep them attached to the spirit of 1952, the spirit of 1971, the spirit of our tradition, our culture
But, despite all the circumstantial evidence, is it at all fair to exclusively blame youths? How exactly can anyone justify preposterous ideas such as 24-hour surveillance of anyone within a specific age bracket? Are we seriously considering a panopticon, turning our society into an extended and invisible prison?
What exactly should we be focusing on here? Social exclusion, something that’s somehow already in place, or social inclusion?
Should we develop a tendency to consider all youths as potential terrorists, or should we come forward with empathy and tackle all possible factors which develops into the alienation that our young boys and girls face?
All rhetorical questions, of course.
We should not forget the role that the youth played in key points in our nation’s history: 1952, 1969, 1971, and 1990, none of the sweeping social changes that these years are so inextricably linked with would have been possible without the sweat of our youth.
If anything, now is the time for our nation to invest in the youth to advance progressive agendas instead of making them “the other,” turning them into yet another demographic that needs to be monitored and feared.
We need to consider the push and pull factors that result in a handful of youths getting deviated and radicalised. Situations for massive terrorist attacks Holey Artisan Bakery or Sholakia were been created overnight. We need to seriously count social, economic, cultural, and political aspects of radicalisation. After all, terrorism plays the long game.
We need to reinforce an inclusive approach in our community and society that will nurture our youths’ potential to do good, and keep them attached to the spirit of 1952, the spirit of 1971, the spirit of our tradition, our culture.
Any less of an approach, and the only things that await us in the future are division and destruction.
Munir Uddin Shamim is working in the field of governance with a bi-lateral technical co-operation agency.
