Written by Michael Thervil
Photo by AP Photo/Rajib Dhar
It has been at least 3 weeks since the Bangladeshis have been protesting what is known around the world as “unfair labor practices”. The root cause of the reason people in Bangladesh are protesting its government is not only because of its high poverty rate, but because of the openly known practice of people paying/bribing their way into acquiring governmental jobs to bypass the government job quota. Previously the 1971 job quota allowed for roughly 56% of the families of military veterans who fought for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan to comprise the general makeup of government jobs. The failure of the government of Bangladesh to economically stabilize their job market in conjunction with failing to address unfair labor practices, and the reduction of that rough 56% down to 30% job quota is what sparked the mass protest in Bangladesh.
Now it has been reported that the reduction to 30% has been further reduced to roughly 7% and 1% for ethnic minorities. When the government of Bangladesh announced a nationwide curfew, less than a week ago, it was reignited as of yesterday. The tensions between the people of Bangladesh and their government are at the highest that it’s ever been. This is especially true when it comes to the college and university students in Bangladesh. On the one hand the government attempted to pacify the students by allowing an additional cut of the quota system to be available to them. But on the other hand, despite the government's attempts, it backfired on them. The increased blowback towards the government of Bangladesh came about when the students in which it tried to help ended up protesting the actions of the government calling it “unfair” for all people of Bangladesh.
At this point in time, it seems there’s no end in sight to the protest in Bangladesh. In fact, we are willing to say if the protest and civilian unrest continue at this rate, the people of Bangladesh may attempt to overthrow the government. This may create an opening for another country to step in to intervene, exploit and benefit from the chaos that’s ensuing within the country. We will keep you informed as new information becomes available.
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