BBC OS Conversations: Gen Z and power change in Bangladesh

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After weeks of student-led demonstrations and violence across Bangladesh, which caused the deaths of hundreds of people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has fled to India and resigned after 15 years of controversial rule. Many of those left behind are celebrating what they are describing as a second independence. The man brought in to temporarily lead the country – the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus – has called on young people to help rebuild the South Asian country. Generation Z, who are mostly in their teens and 20s, have played a large role in forcing political change. Hosts Luke Jones and James Reynolds bring some of those young voices together to hear their thoughts and hopes for the future.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello I'm Luke Jones. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. In BBC
0:05.4	OS conversations we bring people together to share their experiences. This time we
0:09.9	hear from Bangladeshis both at home and around the world about the recent violent unrest
0:16.0	and political change and the effect it's had on their lives.
0:20.2	It's been an extraordinary time in the country's history.
0:26.0	After deadly anti-government protests, the Prime Minister resigned and fled the country.
0:32.0	Bangladeshis, both at home and abroad join us to talk of their
0:35.8	cautious hopes for the future.
0:38.0	I'm very happy that we got our second independence because there was a lot of things right it's not only for
0:45.4	quota everything was corrupted so right now we got our country back we have to rebuild it.
0:58.0	You'll hear words like independence and freedom mentioned by our guests as they react to the events of a tumultuous few weeks which took quite a dramatic turn in recent days.
1:03.7	If you missed it we heard conversations in last week's edition with Bangladeshis
1:07.7	about the protests. They started off as peaceful demonstrations led by students
1:12.1	about the way government jobs are awarded
1:13.9	under a quota system you've just heard mentioned, but soon it did turn
1:18.2	violent and the human cost has been high with hundreds of people killed.
1:26.0	Earlier this week there was a development that very few people expected. Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister for 15 years and the longest serving female Prime Minister
1:31.0	in the world, reluctantly resigned and fled the country to
1:34.8	India. As that new spread, protesters stormed her official residence. Her rule
1:40.6	began as democratic, but by the end she was widely viewed as a hated autocrat.
1:47.0	If you spoke against her, you risked being imprisoned or even worse.
1:51.0	During the week, the OS team has been receiving messages from Bangladesh's as they were able to get back online.
	...

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