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Bangladesh's Youth Topple Leader: Can They Lead Real Change?

Bangladesh's youth-led uprising has led to the ousting of PM Sheikh Hasina. The movement, fueled by economic disparities and political dissatisfaction, highlights the potential for change and the challenges ahead for Bangladesh's future.

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Bangladesh's youth lead protest

Bangladesh's Youth Topple Leader: Can They Lead Real Change? | People gather around the former residence of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister in Dhaka. Stringer/EPA | The Conversation

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Bangladesh's Youth Face a Political Crossroads

“Inni, we are independent!” my 26-year-old cousin chanted from Shahbagh, a neighbourhood in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, as millions joined a major protest march on Monday to the country’s Parliament House.

Soon after, social media was flooded with news of “a new independence” – a free Bangladesh reborn after the autocratic leader of over 15 years, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, fled the country in the face of defiant public demand for her resignation.

It was the startling culmination of weeks of unrest that resulted in some 300 deaths and thousands of arrests.

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Now, the young protesters who instigated the protests have a real opportunity to contribute to the political discourse in a previously discriminatory system of government. Will the interim government listen – and bring real change to the country?

What’s Been Happening in Recent Weeks?

The student protests erupted last month over a quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war veterans and their relatives. The students demanded a merit-based system, deeming the current one unfair and biased.

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