How to bring down a prime minister: Behind the scenes of the Bangladeshi student movement
Nobel prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as prime minister of Bangladesh last week after being offered the role by student protesters whose months-long campaign led to the fall of the government of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. In Bangladesh, it is the start of a new chapter. We take a look at how this unprecedented student movement organised online to raise awareness worldwide about what was happening on the ground.
When Nobel prize laureate Muhammad Yunus arrived on Bangladeshi soil on August 8, it marked a new political era for the country. Yunus was sworn in as prime minister of Bangladesh after being offered the role by student protesters, who had defied brutal crackdowns to take to the streets for over a month.
The group at the heart of the movement is called the "Students Against Discrimination" and it was created by students who didn’t want a part in pre-existing political parties. Though they were initially protesting quota reform, their movement quickly snowballed, culminating in the fall of the government controlled by the Awami League and then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who had been in her post for more than 15 years.
The student movement organised giant protests but, beyond that, they also carried out mass online campaigns to raise awareness, which led to an unprecedented mobilisation. Our team wanted to learn the ins and outs of how this campaign was organised and spoke to students both in Bangladesh and abroad to find out more.
