VOA新闻杂志2024--Student Uprising in Bangladesh Part of History of Political Protest

Protests in Bangladesh that involved many students have led to the long-time prime minister fleeing the country.

The developments in the South Asian country are among the most recent incidents in which students and other young people played an important part. They have brought down governments or forced them to change policies. Recently, the Associated Press (AP) listed some historic protests:

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, weeks of protests against a system that set aside government jobs for the families of veterans with ruling party ties forced the prime minister from office.

The demonstrations¹ against the quotas³ for government jobs began peacefully last month. Students are said to have led the protests against the system for government jobs. They said it unfairly favored those with ties to the ruling party.

On July 15, student protesters fought with security officials and pro-government activists⁴. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled last week after the unrest. It is estimated that nearly 300 people died in the violence including students and police officers.

Gota Go Gama protests in Sri Lanka

As in Bangladesh, young people took part in widespread protests in Sri Lanka in 2022. The protesters blamed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the economic collapse⁵ of the country and corruption⁶.

In April 2022, university students and other young people occupied an area next to the president's office in the capital Colombo. They demanded that the president and his government resign. They called the camp "Gota Go Gama," or "Gota Go Village," a play on Gotabaya's nickname "Gota."

The protest area grew. Gotabaya Rajapaksa held onto power until July, when protesters stormed his official residence. He fled the country and later resigned.

Athens Polytechnic⁷ uprising in Greece

In November 1973, students at Athens Polytechnic university rose up against the military dictatorship that ruled Greece for more than six years.

Student protests began peacefully with a strike on November 14 of that year. The students stopped attending classes and occupied the campus at the university in Athens. By the next day, thousands from around Athens had joined to support the students and the demonstrations grew. People called for an end to the dictatorship.

On November 17, the military attacked the protestors, killing⁸ many students and injuring more than 1,100. After a series of events, Greece, the birthplace of democracy, returned to that form of government in 1974.

Kent State demonstrations in the United States

President Richard Nixon approved attacks on neutral Cambodia in April 1970. That policy was an attempt to close enemy supply lines, but it expanded the conflict. American students had already been protesting the U.S. involvement in Vietnam for years.

On May 4, hundreds of students at Ohio's Kent State University gathered to protest the bombing of Cambodia. Officials called in the Ohio National Guard to break up the protest.

The National Guard used tear gas as they moved forward. For reasons that are still not clear, some National Guard members opened fire on the crowd. Four students were killed, and nine others wounded.

The deaths were a defining moment for a nation divided over the long war, in which more than 58,000 Americans died.

One result was a strike by an estimated 4 million students across the U.S. About 900 colleges and universities closed temporarily. Historians argue that the events helped turn public opinion against the conflict in Southeast Asia.

Soweto Uprising in South Africa

In the struggle against white minority rule in South Africa, an important moment came in 1976 in the Soweto area of Johannesburg.

On June 16, Black students began to protest against being forced to study in Afrikaans, the language of the country's white rulers. The country was ruled under a system of racial separation called apartheid.

People in other areas of South Africa joined protests to express opposition⁹ to apartheid. The government's effort to control the uprising led to deaths estimated to be in the hundreds.

Worldwide attention and support for the protesters brought the end of apartheid years later. South Africa held democratic elections in 1994.

Velvet¹⁰ Revolution in Czechoslovakia

In 1989, the Communist governments of Eastern Europe were beginning to fail. After riot police suppressed a student protest in Prague on November 17, widespread demonstrations against the Communist rulers started in what was then known as Czechoslovakia.

On November 20, many others joined the students and an estimated 500,000 took to the streets of Prague.

Because the protests were non-violent, they were called the "Velvet Revolution." They led to the resignation of the Communist Party's leadership on November 28.

By December 10, Czechoslovakia had a new government. On December 29, parliament elected the writer Vaclav Havel, who had spent several years in prison. In 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Words in This Story

quota² -n. an official limit or number of people who are permitted in a program or similar system

nickname -n. a name that is not someone's official name, but which people use for them

campus -n. the grounds of a school, business or organization

1 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

2 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

3 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。