New Books Network Radio ReOrient 14.2: State of the Ummah – Authoritarianism and Resistance: Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hosted by SherAli Tahreen and Shehla Khan, with Tanzeen Doha and Salman Sayyid
Apr 10, 2026
Salman Sayyid, a comparative political analyst unpacking post-colonial power, and Tanzeen Doha, an anthropologist specializing in Bangladesh, discuss authoritarianism and resistance. They trace Bangladesh’s July 2024 student uprising and its roots. They compare why Bangladesh ousted an autocrat while Pakistan remains under military-backed repression. They examine student cadres, secular elite tensions, and the role of intellectual currents.
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Student Uprising Rewrote Bangladesh's Political Frame
- The July 2024 student uprising in Bangladesh transformed from a quota protest into a mass revolt against Sheikh Hasina's secular, necropolitical war-on-terror regime.
- Students reclaimed the term Rajakar and linked grievances to historical 1971 historiography, turning campus activism into nationwide anti-Indian-hegemonic politics.
February Vote Revealed Pakistan's Illegitimacy
- February 8, 2024 in Pakistan exposed the ruling dispensation as illegitimate when Imran Khan's party won despite media blackout and repression.
- The regime's sole authority is brute violence, exemplified by political imprisonment and suppression of party symbols and images.
Cadre Organization Turned Campus Protests Into Nationwide Revolt
- Chhatra Shibir's cadre structure and campus victories converted a student-led protest into a mass movement by physically confronting police and security forces.
- Trained Islamist student cadres displaced police on campuses, created martyrs, and universalized slogans like azadi and Palestine.