As Bangladesh observes the second anniversary of the July uprising today (August 5), the nation has every reason to recall with pride the courage of the Gen Z students and ordinary people who brought down a 15-year-long authoritarian rule. But anniversaries of revolts are not meant only for commemorating sacrifices or repeating familiar slogans. They are also moments for measuring the distance travelled between the dreams for which people shed blood and the realities that followed. In that sense, the second anniversary raises an unavoidable question: how much of the July dream of a democratic, accountable and discrimination-free Bangladesh has actually been translated into reality? The most visible achievement is, of course, that the autocratic regime was removed and a parliamentary government returned through the general election held on February 12 this year. The people can again criticise those in power without the same paralysing fear, while universities, professional bodies and civic platforms have regained a public voice. The July Mass Uprising (Protection and Liability Determination) Ordinance has also accorded formal recognition and legal protection to the participants in the movement. These are no small gains. Even so, replacing one government with another was never the revolution’s ultimate purpose. The deeper objective was to dismantle the political and institutional arrangements that enabled authoritarianism, corruption, enforced silence and wholesale capture of the state.
Admittedly, some work towards restoring the institutions damaged during the previous regime has begun. The Election Commission has conducted the first post-uprising national election, parliament has returned, judicial independence has received renewed attention and the Bangladesh Bank has been provided with stronger tools to address distressed banks. The July Charter has also created a framework for checks and balances, limits on executive power and greater accountability. However, enactment of laws or creation of commissions does not by itself guarantee institutional independence. The country has never suffered from a dearth of laws; what it has chronically lacked is their impartial execution. Unless appointments, investigations, prosecutions, banking decisions and public administration are freed from partisan influence, the repaired institutions might again become instruments of whichever party commands the state.
The elected government, which has been in office for less than six months, cannot reasonably be expected to reverse in so short a time the damage accumulated over one and a half decades. Yet its direction has to be judged by the condition of the common people. On that count, the picture is far from reassuring. Economic growth has remained subdued, inflation continues to erode real wages, poverty has risen and fresh graduates still find the employment market painfully narrow. At the same time, the banking system remains burdened with bad loans, weak governance and the consequences of politically-connected lending. For families struggling to buy food, pay rent and educate children, constitutional promises will have little meaning unless relief reaches them through jobs and stable prices. To a young generation that rose partly against joblessness, inequality and cronyism, democracy without economic opportunity will increasingly appear incomplete.
Under the circumstances, fulfilment of the July dream requires the government to place an economy serving ordinary people at the centre of its programme. Restoring discipline in banks, recovering stolen assets, widening the tax net without overburdening low-income people, protecting essential social expenditure and creating conditions for private investment and decent employment are therefore not merely economic tasks; they are obligations arising from the uprising. The youth, on their part, should retain their role as a vigilant democratic force rather than becoming an appendage of any political party. The blood debt of July cannot be repaid through monuments, ceremonies and official declarations alone. It can be honoured only by creating institutions that no ruler can capture and an economy in which opportunity is not reserved for the privileged few. On this second anniversary, the government would do well to remember that the July Revolution will remain unfinished until political freedom is matched by economic justice.
Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/editorial/july-dream-of-economic-justice
