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Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Investigating Sheikh Hasina's final days in Bangladesh
A student uprising shook Bangladesh, toppling its most powerful leader. After 15 years in office, Sheikh Hasina's grip on power broke under the pressure of a movement that began with a dispute over government jobs, and ended with her fleeing the country. To mark the anniversary, here's the first episode of 36 July: Uprising in Bangladesh, the new season of Al Jazeera Investigates.
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
The Take: Investigating Sheikh Hasina's final days in Bangladesh
A student uprising shook Bangladesh, toppling its most powerful leader. After 15 years in office, Sheikh Hasina's grip on power broke under the pressure of a movement that began with a dispute over government jobs, and ended with her fleeing the country. To mark the anniversary, here's the first episode of 36 July: Uprising in Bangladesh, the new season of Al Jazeera Investigates. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
South China Morning Post
18-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Has Bangladesh's post-Hasina transition hit a violent roadblock?
A violent clash in Bangladesh on Wednesday between a student-led political movement and supporters of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has exposed deep political fault lines, with analysts warning of further unrest. At least four people were killed and dozens injured when members of the National Citizen Party (NCP) – formed by student activists – marched on Gopalganj district, a traditional stronghold of Hasina's Awami League and the site of a mausoleum dedicated to her father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Analysts say the incident signals the emergence of a new political bloc – comprising the NCP and the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami – that may be positioning itself against both the Awami League and its long-time rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The clash also reflects growing unease within the two mainstream parties over the rise of the student-led NCP, which is widely seen as enjoying support from the interim government and may seek to sideline them ahead of elections expected next year. Bangladesh's army personnel patrol a street in Gopalganj on Thursday. Photo: AFP
The Independent
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Tiananmen massacre: It's time to wake up and stand up to the butchers of Beijing
On this day, 36 years ago, thousands of peaceful protesters were gunned down in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and in the streets and alleyways of China's capital during a brutal crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests. Thousands more were massacred in cities across China. British diplomatic cables revealed that the death toll may have been as high as 10,000. Last week, a group known as the Tiananmen Mothers – whose sons and daughters were killed, injured or jailed in 1989 – issued a statement calling for an independent investigation into the massacre. 'The bereaved will never forget,' they wrote. 'This atrocity, engineered entirely by the government of the time, remains one of the darkest chapters in human history. The pain it has caused has never left – it is a nightmare that time cannot fade.' Yet, as far as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is concerned, nothing happened on 4 June 1989. This was a day erased from history – no commemoration has ever been possible in mainland China. Even in Hong Kong, the one city in China where memorials used to be held, candlelight vigils have been banned over the past five years. Hong Kong's Catholic Church, which used to hold commemorative masses, has not done so for the past three years. Simply lighting a candle on this day can land you in jail for years. Thirty-six years on, one might ask the question: what did the student movement in 1989 achieve? On the surface, nothing, except bloodshed, death and repression. Over the past three decades, despite brief periods of relative relaxation and apparent opening, the rule of the CCP regime has become more repressive, and authoritarianism in China has intensified. Over the past 13 years of Xi Jinping's rule, in particular, China has been plunged into a new dark age of repression – in which we have seen the dismantling of Hong Kong's once-celebrated and vibrant civil society, genocide of the Uyghurs, an acceleration of persecution of Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, and increased repression in Tibet. In addition, we have seen more aggression towards Taiwan and more transnational repression against Beijing's critics abroad, with China operating clandestine security outposts in places like New York and London to monitor and threaten Chinese activists abroad. For too long, the free world has emboldened and facilitated the CCP's repression. The decision by the US to award China 'permanent normal trading status' (PNTR) and later 'Most-Favoured Nation' (MFN) status in 2000, just over a decade after the slaughter, was wrong-headed. Turning to the present day, there is a need for a wake-up call. We should not have normal trading relations with a genocidal regime committing crimes against humanity and dire repression. Such a regime cannot be trusted. Few sane voices would say we should disengage or stop all trade – that is not possible with such a vast market and such a strong power. No, the question before us is not whether to engage, but how – and on whose terms? We should impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for the Uyghur genocide, but also for the dismantling of Hong Kong's freedoms in violation of an international treaty, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Beijing promised to uphold Hong Kong's autonomy and liberty at least until 2047. We should also demand the release of political prisoners. Any trade deals with China should be contingent on the release of media entrepreneur and British citizen Jimmy Lai, barrister Chow Hang-tung and all Hong Kong political prisoners. Ms Chow was jailed for organising candlelight vigils to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre (Chow had her conviction overturned, but is still behind bars over a separate subversion case) and one of the multiple charges against Lai was the crime of lighting a candle and saying a prayer at such a vigil, so their cases are symbolic on this anniversary. But the international community must also step up efforts to demand the release citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, Christian pastor Wang Yi, Uyghur medical doctor Gulshan Abbas, dissident Dr Wang Bingzhang, who has been held for 23 years after being abducted from Vietnam, Tibet's Panchen Lama and his relatives, and the thousands of prisoners of conscience across China. On the surface, Beijing's leaders seem emboldened. Even though China's economic miracle appears to have waned, with its property bubble bursting and the opportunities for young people to find good jobs declining, nevertheless it appears on track to hit 5 per cent growth this year. With its Belt and Road Initiative, despite failures and frustrations, China appears to have successfully entrapped many developing countries in its orbit, building an alliance of authoritarianism to counter the free world. The turbulence over Donald Trump's tariffs so far does not appear to have dented Xi Jinping's grip on power – and may even have strengthened his hand in the short term. Yet, there are two important things that the protesters in Tiananmen Square 36 years ago achieved, which we forget at our peril. First, they showed that, when given the chance, the people of China want freedom – and many have made enormous personal sacrifices towards that goal. They are not beholden to the CCP. Even today, when I speak with Chinese friends privately, many of them indicate their desire to be free. And protests in recent years – notably the White Paper movement of 2022 – show that the lamp of freedom in China has not dimmed and will, periodically, emerge again. Second, by peacefully protesting, the students in Tiananmen Square and around the country illustrated the stark contrast between their cause and character and the regime's. Faced with peaceful protestors, the CCP sent in tanks and soldiers. They met placards and hunger strikers with guns and bullets. In so doing, they exposed to the world – not for the first time, and not for the last – their true nature. Thirty-six years on, the regime has not changed. It continues its repression, cruelty, inhumanity, barbarity and criminality. The question is not whether China has changed. It is whether the free world has the courage to change its approach to China. Will we put morals before mammon? Will we, who believe in freedom and human rights, finally wake up and stand up to the butchers of Beijing?
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Örkesh Dölet descended on to Tiananmen Square with thousands of fellow student protesters. He's now 36 years into exile
When I was little, mum used to take us to visit an elderly Uyghur couple every year. We would climb up the winding concrete stairs in a Soviet-era apartment block and be greeted with a warmth that felt like family. Over piping hot bowls of Uyghur chay, mum would talk to them for hours while my brother and I listened. I always assumed they were relatives of ours, until mum told me that they were the parents of her friend Örkesh Dölet, and they had not seen their son for over 20 years. As a child, I didn't know who Örkesh was, but my heart broke for his parents, who clearly loved and missed their son so very dearly. Growing up in Beijing, dad used to take us to Tiananmen Square on weekends to fly colourful swallow-shaped kites. Due to censorship, I never knew that the pristine, neatly paved tiles beneath the soles of my sparkly light-up sneakers were once carpeted with the corpses of brave pro-democracy student protesters. I never saw the famous photo of 'tank man'. I never knew the date '4 June 1989' had any significance for the city that I called home. When I first learned about the Tiananmen Square protests, I was in disbelief. I could not even imagine a Beijing where young people would dare to dream of and fight for a better China. In the repressive China that I grew up in, a movement like that of 1989 seemed like fiction from some distant, unrecognisable timeline. But the student movement was real, it was impactful, and it was led by a young Uyghur man named Örkesh Dölet. I interviewed Örkesh remotely from his home in exile in Taiwan as part of an upcoming book project, titled Uyghur Resistance. Now, as the anniversary of the 1989 massacre approaches, Örkesh reflects on his lifelong dedication to the fight for democracy, and on that one summer 36 years ago that would irreversibly alter the course of his life. In April 1989, Örkesh was a scrawny, charismatic 21-year-old student at Beijing Normal University. He descended on to Tiananmen Square with thousands of fellow students, who bravely protested for democracy and human rights. Over 50 days, Örkesh stepped up as a leader of the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation and represented students in televised negotiations with Chinese Communist party leaders. Then, on 4 June 1989, the tanks rolled in. The People's Liberation Army mowed down the blossoming civil society movement that Örkesh had helped build, but it could not extinguish the powerful sense of justice that continues to burn within the soul of this lifetime activist. After the massacre, Örkesh found himself on China's most wanted list and escaped into exile under cover of darkness, as did the other high-profile protest leaders. However, unlike his fellow exiled Han Chinese protest leaders, Örkesh has not once been allowed to return to China, nor has the Chinese Communist party granted his parents the documents necessary to travel overseas. During one of our visits, Örkesh's father said he had sent one handwritten letter to Chinese government officials every week since June 1989, imploring them to let him see his son. I know every stroke of every Mandarin character on every one of those 1,800 unanswered letters is chiselled with longing. Desperate to see his family, Örkesh tried to turn himself in to China on four separate occasions without success. 'I was most wanted by the Chinese government, but then all of a sudden when I turn myself in, when I offer myself to them, I became the most unwanted.' Örkesh is a really strong person who has seen and survived extraordinary hardships, but even the staunchest, most assertive political dissident is still human: 'I miss my family. I want to see them. Even if that meeting has to take place in the form of a prison visit, I still want to have an opportunity to see my family.' Thirty-six years in exile is a pain that I can only imagine. For me, it has been 10 years since I've been to East Turkestan and seen my loved ones. These past 10 years have been pure agony. But Örkesh has borne this pain since before I was even alive. I think of the vacuum left by his absence, which was palpable in his parents' apartment. Then I think of the 500,000 members of the Uyghur diaspora and the void we ourselves have left in the homes of our loved ones. Then I think of the millions of Uyghurs in arbitrary detention and the hollowness that haunts the homes of their loved ones. The pain of Örkesh and his family was once exceptional, yet now it has become a defining feature of the Uyghur experience – the pain of seemingly interminable temporal, emotional and physical space between us and the people whom we love the most. Yet no amount of discrimination could drive a wedge between Örkesh and his Uyghur-ness. He attributes his continued advocacy to the foundational Uyghur values that he was taught as a child: 'As Uyghurs, we were brought up always being taught to be courageous, to be brave. I think that has played an important role in 1989 for me to take the step up and become one of the early leaders of the movement. When I am presented with an opportunity to say something, I believe that I should say what I think is right, not what is safe. As Uyghurs, we do the right thing, not the safe thing.' Generations of Uyghur activists like Örkesh have laid the groundwork for Uyghur advocacy today. To be a young Uyghur activist is to follow a path of resistance that has been paved by our forebears, to draw inspiration from their tenacity, wisdom from their experience and strength from the knowledge that we are joined in this fight by all those who have come before us and all those who will come after us. To be a young Uyghur activist is also to know that this path never has been and never will be an easy one. I will always look up to Örkesh. He is the human embodiment of the fighting spirit that lives within every Uyghur person – this spirit is the reason why a vibrant culture of Uyghur resistance persists to this day. Nuria Khasim is a Uyghur advocate living in Naarm. This article includes excerpts from Uyghur Resistance, due to be published in September 2025
