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A demonstrator gestures as protesters clash with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the police outside the state-owned Bangladesh Television as violence erupts across the country after anti-quota protests by students, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 19, 2024.
Bangladeshi high court quashes quotas, but students stand firm
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Sunday scrapped most government job quotas after two weeks of nationwide student-led protests left 139 people dead and more than 400 injured.
The back story:For decades, a quota system reserved 56% of government jobs for special groups. Thirty percent went to descendants of those who fought for independence against Pakistan in 1971. The rest were for women, minorities, and poor districts.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ended that in 2018 in response to protests, but in June the High Court reinstated the fighters’ relatives quota, provoking fresh unrest and a police crackdown. Government jobs are coveted in a country of high youth unemployment, stagnant private-sector employment, and stinging inflation.
The court’s new ruling caps the job quota at 7%.
Hasina has held a tight grip on power since 2009. In January, she won an election that was boycotted by the opposition over concerns that she was rigging it.
Observers say the protests are about more than quotas. “They’re protesting against the repressive nature of the state,” said Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladesh expert at the University of Oslo. “The students are in fact calling [Hasina] a dictator.”
Will the protesters now look to press further against Hasina? Student leaders have already said they’ll stay in the streets until the government releases jailed students and restores internet service.
Members of the second contingent of Kenyan police greet each other after arriving in the Caribbean country as part of a peacekeeping mission, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti July 16, 2024.
Double duty: Kenya and Bangladesh try to balance domestic crises with Haiti aid
Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conillecalled for gangs to surrender their weapons and recognize the state’s authority late Wednesday, as a Kenyan-led police mission there enjoys some early success.
Some 200 officers arrived in late June and are trying to take back the capital from gangs that launched a series of highly coordinated attacks in February, ousting former Prime Minister Ariel Henry and seizing about 80% of the capital. The mission received another 200 Kenyan officers on Tuesday, and, within the coming months, the multinational force is expected to see recruits from other countries, including Bangladesh. But oddly enough, both Nairobi and Dhaka are facing severe challenges to law and order at home.
Kenya is entering its second month of deadly protests calling for the resignation of President William Ruto. But Ruto has doubled down, banning protests in Nairobi mere hours before a demonstration was planned for Thursday. Protests are likely to continue and will be met by a violent police response.
Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, at least 32 people have been killed in police clashes during nationwide, student-led protests this week. The young activists are demonstrating over quotas that reserve 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. Protesters announced they will force a nationwide shutdown in response to the police brutality in one of the most severe challenges yet to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled for 20 years.
We’re watching for signs of whether the security mission’s main contributors feel they need to put their own houses in order before helping Haiti.
Former President of Peru Alberto Fujimori attends a trial as a witness at the navy base in Callao, Peru, in 2018.
Hard Numbers: Peru braces for a blast from the past, Americans worry about more violence, Bangladeshi students protest job quotas, China’s GDP growth underwhelms
3: Well, name recognition won’t be an issue … Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, an authoritarian rightist who held power in the 1990s, plans to run for president again in 2026. Last year, the ailing 85-year-old politician was released early from a 25-year jail sentence for human rights abuses committed by his regime. His daughter, Keiko, has unsuccessfully run for president three times. If he does enter the race, it will be a test for Peruvian law, which bars any candidates convicted of corruption: The elder Fujimori has been convicted of graft not once, not twice, but three times.
67: Is more political violence likely in America? Unfortunately, most Americans seem to think so. In a poll taken after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, 67% of respondents said the current environment makes politically motivated violence “more likely.”
100: At least 100 people were injured in protests and clashes across Bangladesh on Monday as students took to the streets to oppose a quota system they see as unfair. The quota sets aside 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. The protests pose a challenge to strong(wo)man Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who in January won her fourth straight term in government. That vote, however, was boycotted by the opposition over allegations that “Asia’s Iron Lady” was trying to rig the outcome.
4.7: China’s GDP expanded at an annual rate of 4.7% in the second quarter of this year, nearly half a point below analyst expectations, as weak consumer spending offset rising exports from the world’s second-largest economy. The data come as China’s leadership prepares to gather for a special, four-day meeting on economic policy.