July Revolution in Bangladesh Based on Meta-Modernist Philosophy – Global Issues
BOSTON / PHILADELPHIA, Oct 28 (IPS) – Students and ordinary people of Bangladesh had the courage to do something in the 36 days of July-August that was considered impossible for many people just days before August 5, 2024. They said ‘enough is enough’ of the old system which angered their humanity, robbed them of their dignity and the rulers thought that their fortress of power was impenetrable. The revolutionaries refused to bow down to a murderous regime that knew no bounds to its brutality and plunder. They were ready to sacrifice their lives for the relief of a besieged nation.
Meta-modernism is a cultural philosophy of the digital age, coined by Mas’ud Zavarzadeh in 1975. Internet Age meta-modernism or a balanced worldview. As one commentator put it, we moved away from modernism – “Make it new!” Let’s make history! – in postmodernism – everything is fun! Nothing really matters! – in meta-modernism – maybe things are not this black and white, maybe there is a middle ground.
Meta-modernist thinkers see the current world around them as a threat to their existence. They operate with pragmatic idealism and do not have good narrative thinking or any orthodox convictions. In other words, they try to balance between all these. They realize that they have to deal with social problems.
It would be a mistake to think that this change of people is about a change of government. Its victory is not like 1947 and 1971. In both of those cases, there was a change in government without a change in structure. As a result, the incoming government followed the imperialist practices of exploitation left behind by the British. Successive governments turned the country into a failed democracy, in order to control, exploit and subjugate its citizens. The police are used as the enabling force to rule the citizens, while the legislature and judiciary act as rubber stamps to maintain total control of the government. This bad social system has corrupted the thinking and behavior of our people. A moral society was created that had no fear of accountability, its power was unfathomable selfishness and ideology — ‘law and exploitation by oppression’. Civil servants saw themselves as managers and not as civil servants. They thrived on corruption at all levels.
Now there are two competing ideologies before Bangladesh – one is a rotten fascism that wants to re-emerge under the old leadership and the other is a new egalitarian leadership. As the revolution showed, the ‘New Bangladesh’ does not tolerate corrupt institutions that support fascism. It wishes for a new society without corruption. For a paradigm shift – a revolutionary change.
The Senior Advisor and the student organizers clearly highlighted the New Bangladesh ideas through their speeches and discussions. Dr. Yunus said, ‘We are all one nation’. This is a call to establish a complete change in society. Such a big change in society requires a change in values. The change in values lies in the change in social thinking.
The new Bangladesh is not the old Bangladesh with a new cover. It requires a change in the basic principles of human behavior, actions, and beliefs. These include structural changes, personal changes, expectations.
To understand the vision of this change, one must listen carefully to the speech of Mahfuz Alam, the ‘thinker’ of this movement. Five points can be found in his recent speeches: (1) unity, (2) ‘the language is their encouragement’, (3) group leadership, (4) they are children of the time, and (5) they are not slaves. in traditional thinking. His ideas reflect today’s meta-modernism.
For any transformational change to be successful, change agents must own it, guide it, and ultimately succeed in it. We think that this radical change can benefit from the revolutionary methods adopted in China and Cuba which were also led by the youth. They owned the revolution and did not allow it to be hijacked by reactionaries. We see some of these signs in the minds and hearts of the revolutionaries of Bangladesh.
The point is, bringing about any changes in old cultural practices is never an easy task. This revolution has given an opportunity to change the future of Bangladesh like never before.
The meta-modernist youth of Bangladesh have come to lead and move forward; they will not return to the old ways. Their message is clear: if you don’t join us, the world won’t wait for you. If the older generations do not accept the new vision of change, we fear another instability and chaos to come, the outcome of which will not be pleasant.
Dr. Mawdudur RahmanProfessor Emeritus, Suffolk University, Boston, USA. He can be contacted at: [email protected].
Dr. Habib Siddiqui he is a fighter for peace and human rights. His latest book – ‘Bangladesh: a divided and divided nation?’ available on Amazon.com. Both are members of the steering committee of Esho Desh Gori – Let’s Build Bangladesh.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
