Bobby Hajjaj

There are moments in a nation’s life when victory does not feel like triumph at all. It feels like an inventory. One counts the broken things.

The surest sign of a liberal democracy is not a flag, nor a constitution framed behind glass. It is the quiet competence of institutions—and the political culture that keeps them honest. One shapes the other the way a river shapes its banks, and the banks, in turn, discipline the river.

Bangladesh is living through daily un-governmentality.

The February election is the one remaining bridge between the sacrifice of July and the promise of tomorrow.

There was, for a brief interval last month, the hope of reaching consensus, of returning to democratic nation-building in earnest.

To begin with, the origins of the July uprising have been widely misunderstood, both by foreign observers and Dhaka’s own elite commentariat.

What kind of education shall we offer the next generation?

A new danger is emerging from within the very segment of society that should know better.