We stand today at a critical juncture. The authoritarian state has collapsed, but the authoritarian mind endures. The struggle for democracy, therefore, is no longer against a regime -- it is against ourselves.
Bangladesh’s politics stands today at a critical crossroads. If a new political force grounded in liberal values does not emerge, the state will inevitably drift further into extremism, fanaticism, and division.
Call the vote. Step down from the balcony. And let an elected government answer, at last, to the only sovereign that matters. The antidote to our present malaise is not another announcement. It is an election.
While no model for increasing women's political representation is perfect, the crux of the matter is that the political desire for a workable solution is what is absent. This is what must change if women are to experience the fruits of Bangladesh 2.0.
Tonight, Mamdani’s victory isn’t just his. It belongs to every person ever told you’re too different, too foreign, too inconvenient to lead. It belongs to those who were silenced, sidelined, written out of the script by those who claim to define “electability.”
From Pakistan to Egypt, and possibly up to Morocco in the long run, this vast region is becoming the playground of the GCC, BRICS, and a transnational Financial Industrial Complex
The sooner we embark on our mundane journey for democracy fraught with its own setbacks and disappointments, the more likely we will find the peace, stability, and economic justice we yearn
Politics is not a moral monastery. It’s a battlefield of imperfect allies and temporary truces. If the NCP keeps attacking everyone around it, soon it will have no one left to fight beside. Reform may begin with rebellion, but it survives through relationships. And without those, no revolution lasts long enough to write its own constitution.
Proportional representation sounds fair, but can lead to fragmentation and fracture of the polity. In the Bangladeshi context, it may deliver instability we don't need.
We need to close loopholes for unilateral amendments to the Constitution, otherwise the July Charter will not be worth the paper it is written on
The reason that proxy militancy is being dismantled is simple. It is no longer useful in the new world order. This is just the first step in the rise of the GCC as it takes its seat at the big table.
NCP’s hesitation is an act of political commitment to the people of Bangladesh. It seeks to ensure that Bangladesh’s long-awaited democratic transformation is not undone by legal fragility or political opportunism.
What many observers miss in the drama surrounding the NCP boycott is the fact that the July Charter still represents a significant step along the way to implementing lasting reforms to Bangladesh’s broken political system.
How do you spot an agent provocateur in the pay of our enemies? Easy. Look for someone trying to create a wedge between the military and the public. Look for someone inciting violence.
There is much to be learned from the surveys that have been done over the past year. But is anyone, especially the political parties, listening?
Instead of asking expats to vote in their "home constituencies," we should have overseas constituencies and overseas MPs. That way the expats can be represented in Parliament by someone who can address their immediate concerns.
