Society
In Bangladesh, 2024 student movement was an important part of the country's history, indicating how much young people were able to do to change things for the better. The trigger for this protest had been the quota system that had been in place since colonial times which discriminated against some people. It is because of such reasons that students decided to rise up against them with demands for change on their behalf all over the nation. We learned lessons in philosophy relevant to justice on one hand, ethics in leadership on another one and persistence through cooperation besides courage of convicts conducted through collective action from this movement because in society we live today not everything is fair and there comes a time when all what remains is fighting the wrong thing.
The students of 2024 majorly wanted fairness as their leading agenda coming mainly from the government's affirmative action with deep base in philosophy. The appeal to fairness by the students reminded one of John Rawls' justice as fairness in addition to Aristotle's distributive justice concept thus showing how well they knew what equalitarianism entailed in society. Such things like asking that there should be equal opportunities and treating everybody fairly in reforms showed they understood such things as rights from which nobility emanated during the protest. Therefore, even though they demanded policies would change it was more than that it sought after an entirely different society that was more just and equal in its distribution of resources.
The dimensions of the student movement that contain concerns to morality are especially interesting. They appeared as renowned people advocating for openness, responsibility, or sometimes, faithful governance. The lens of Confucian ethics can be used to examine their actions, since it focuses on moral obligations for leaders, while acting according to moral principles is what Kantian duty ethics insists on. Throughout the disorder, these young people advocated for peace, besides guarding against any destruction aimed at public properties in the country. On a regular basis, people such as Nahid Islam together with Asif Mahmud kept on stressing about the necessity for peaceful demonstrations as well as good citizenship thus warning their followers against disruptive behaviors like looting and damaging others' properties. Violence notwithstanding, ethical living standards among this group suggest commitment towards certain moral values implying that they are responsible citizens who care for themselves and others.
The 2024 student movement illustrated the potential of working together. Bringing together people from all walks of life or regions, students demonstrated that there is strength in togetherness (solidarity). These theories provide a framework for understanding how this movement developed: they include Karl Marx's and Emile Durkheim's ideas on collective action. Marx argues that there is always class struggle while Durkheim talks about social solidarity which help us to see how it is possible for large numbers of people with similar grievances come together behind one common purpose. It is here that we see how well students were able to organize protests throughout the country despite severe crackdowns on dissenting voices - thus proving the effectiveness of working together in challenging well-established structures of power. To sustain their effort on national and global levels they had to be united in one voice and pool their resources.
The endurance displayed by the students through brutal crackdowns and political repression is another important lesson of the movement. Even when they were being subjected to violence and persecution, students did not lose hope because they never stopped believing that there was significance in life or that we can withstand hard times. According to existentialist philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Viktor Frankl, it is possible to discover other meanings even when everything seems meaningless or absurd. Trapped within oppressive systems these individuals have remained steadfast about what is morally right before their fellow men despite various hardships ranging from hunger to diseases among others- this demonstrates how resilient human beings can be.
The lessons available can assist a new interim government under Dr. Yunus to establish a basis for inclusive and upstanding governance. With precedence on fairness, this administration could renovate the quota policy so as to confirm fair chances that can be aligned with Rawls' as well as Aristotle's equity and distributive justice ideals. That is, responding to calls by students for equality requires refocusing the quota system around merit instead of helping disadvantaged groups. A clear way through which this could be achieved is transforming into ethical leadership just like was done by student leaders who based their on transparency and accountability on Confucius or Kantian ethics thereby creating public trust towards moral governance; all procedures must be open while there are systems providing answers when a leader errs.
Their ability in unity among themselves shows that together they can work with wider societies thus allowing these processes reach all those they affect in such manner that government would design forums including student representatives, civil societies among others to enable dialogue from which policies are derived should be established now that they have demonstrated that it is possible to engage different segments of society. Finally, government should incorporate students in forums or consultative bodies together with stakeholders so as to facilitate broad-based input and dialogue between themselves; therefore such actions have a potential of minimizing chances in future for disasters by having safety nets as well as effective crisis management systems namely for instance to start with developing extensive social safety programs policies put in place could be used to make the country less vulnerable to future crises. To this effect Dr Yunus' interim government is expected to use these principles, and slowly advance towards a more just, moral and robust nation.
In Bangladesh, valuable philosophical lessons flow from the 2024 student movement cutting across the immediate political context. Looking at the wider philosophical principles this movement underscores the need for justice, ethical leadership, collective action, and resilience in adversity. Future movements against social and political injustices will be designed using this blueprint and these key learnings resonate with significant outcomes. Policymakers, educators, and citizens should internalize such lessons as they think of what happened in 2024 when they try to create a society based on justice and guided by ethical leadership as well as with an emphasis on collective action. The students' movement demonstrates that it is possible to transform society through youthful activism; additionally, it reminds us about our eternal search for fairness in this world. By emulating the example set by these young people, we could create societies that are founded upon equality before the justice, ethics and stability which those students were so brave about.
Dr. Mohammad Shahidul Islam, Assistant Professor of Marketing, BRAC Business School, BRAC University. e-mail: mohd.sh.islam@bracu.ac.bd
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