In early 2024, I joined my family for a dinner gathering in Brookfield, Wisconsin, hosted by close friends. During the evening, I engaged in a lengthy discussion with two American individuals. At one juncture, the conversation briefly touched on the situation in Bangladesh, where one of the men praised the country’s “economic progress and social advancement.”
Initially taken aback, I pondered how someone could commend Bangladesh’s economic growth despite the prevailing atmosphere of fear under Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian rule. It dawned on me that the individual had unknowingly fallen prey to what Columbia Professor Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak terms “epistemic violence” – a form of harm inflicted through misinformation and disinformation, primarily through communication channels rather than physical means.
To contextualize this within Hasina’s 15-and-a-half-year authoritarian governance, Bangladeshis endured dual levels of suffering: physical oppression and cognitive manipulation. The former manifested visibly through direct actions, while the latter, though subtler, proved more insidious and enduring in its impact.
Upon assuming power in early 2009, Hasina’s leadership became synonymous with brutality. Her tenure was characterized by crackdowns on perceived threats to her administration and policies, with various segments of society, including schoolchildren, falling victim to her violent tactics. The regime sanctioned enforced disappearances as a routine practice, establishing numerous secret torture facilities to detain survivors under inhumane conditions.
The peak of this oppressive era unfolded in the final weeks of Hasina’s reign, marked by security forces, alongside Awami League supporters, conducting block raids in urban areas, targeting students and individuals resembling them. Shocking images emerged of school children being forcibly removed from their homes, restrained like criminals, sparking outrage nationwide. In the lead-up to Hasina’s departure to India, approximately 1,400 individuals, predominantly students, perished from gunfire in a few weeks, while countless others sustained life-altering injuries without access to medical aid.
These instances of physical violence, characterized by casualties and visible wounds, were compounded by acts of epistemic violence – a coalition of writers, intellectuals, and commentators who ideologically bolstered Hasina’s regime through positive portrayals of her governance. They propagated narratives of economic and infrastructural progress under Hasina, touting terms like “Hasinomics” to depict Bangladesh as a developmental success story, while overlooking rampant corruption, human rights abuses, and financial malfeasance under her watch.
The July 2024 uprising, led by Bangladesh’s youth, stood as a testament to their resilience against Hasina’s tyranny, culminating in the regime’s downfall. However, the battle against epistemic violence persists, with proponents of Hasina’s autocracy endeavoring to shape a narrative of crisis and uncertainty surrounding Bangladesh’s future.
As we commemorate the anniversary of the July uprising, it is imperative that the true account of events prevails over distorted narratives propagated by actors of epistemic violence. The responsibility falls on the uprising’s champions, particularly the youth, to engage in intellectual discourse, document the uprising’s legacy, and safeguard an accurate historical record for future generations.
Dr. Md Mahmudul Hasan, Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the International Islamic University Malaysia, emphasizes the critical role of active participation in shaping historical narratives to counter misinformation and ensure an authentic depiction of events.