Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). July 26, 2024. SADAC (South Asian Diaspora Action Collective) is a group based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) acting in solidarity with social movements in South Asia and local migrant justice struggles. Some of our members are of Bangladeshi origin and our programming has included events in solidarity with Bangladeshi people.
We write to support students in Bangladesh who started protesting against the government job quota system at a time of severe underemployment and growing inequality in the country. While the government accepted the Bangladeshi Supreme Court’s recent decision to modify the quota system in response to the intensity of protests, the protest movement has now evolved with new demands beyond merely reforming the quota system; these demands include that the current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, accept responsibility and apologize for the mass killings of students and that several ministers resign from her ruling Awami League party.
We denounce the violence that the students faced in Bangladesh, in which state forces killed more than 200 people over the last ten days after giving “shoot on sight” orders. Thousands are injured and several hundreds still missing. We also note that according to media reports, the number of dead is significantly underestimated. While the ruling government has now eased, at least temporarily, the restrictive curfew that they enforced after the protests first broke out, we deplore nonetheless that the government employed a measure that impaired the most vulnerable and interfered with their ability to earn a living. We are in solidarity with the students’ demands and acknowledge that their concerns reflect an underlying misalignment between growing costs of living, increasing inequality, and a fundamental disconnect between everyday people in Bangladesh and the ruling political and economic class.
We express solidarity with the students and people in Bangladesh who are living under widespread violence instigated by the state authorities. The international media has reported that police were involved in initiating violence and did not curtail the brutality inflicted on protesting students by segments of the student league (Bangladesh Chhatra League) that acts as the Awami Party’s organ of repression within universities.
We denounce the nation-wide internet blackout that violates human rights and suppresses free speech. This also disconnects Bangladeshi people from the rest of the world, an attempt to curtail and suppress the movement.
We witness the turmoil faced by the Bangladeshi diaspora here in Montreal, where elderly and young alike feel the utmost state of helplessness. It leaves them in an intensely uncertain limbo, feeling distressed and distraught where they are not able to communicate with their parents, their siblings, their friends, and their comrades.
We demand justice and accountability from the government, the police and other state authorities, and those in positions of authority.
We express our sincere condolences to the victims and their families and support the Bangladeshi people and the student protesters who are fighting for justice and human rights. We are in solidarity with the demands put forward by the students and urge the government to meet the demands of justice, accountability and dignity.
