Mass uprisings sometimes take place that lead to the stepping down of the governments. The mass uprisings took place in many countries in Asia, Africa and other continents in the past including Tunisia, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Iran. According to multiple sources including the BBC and CNN, the mass uprising is going on against the government of Bangladesh which was initially a Quota Reform Movement of students. The mass uprising led to the step-down of the governments of different countries including — but not limited to — Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt. But the governments of most countries usually do not want to step down amidst the mass uprising, often leading to the deaths of many people and the destruction of properties.
It is notable that there are several ways to deal with mass uprisings. One way is to resolve mass uprising through the discussion of the government with the leaders of mass uprisings and addressing grievances. But this is often an ineffective step because of several reasons. The governments delay making decisions many times for political talks with the uprising mass in different countries before the protest movement turns out to be a mass uprising. Moreover, and importantly, it often turns out to be difficult to bring the uprising mass to the discussion tables since the mass uprising aims at the resignation of the government itself. Consequently, this step fails to deal with the mass uprising without realizing its aim many times.
Many governments often take hardline steps and use forceful means to tackle mass uprisings by any means. But this step leads to the avoidable deaths of many and the destruction of different government and private properties. In different countries including Tunisia and Egypt, for instance, hundreds of people were killed by government forces before the overthrow of the government. Additionally, this measure often turns out to be disastrous for the ruling party after the step down from power. The leaders of the ruling party in different countries find it difficult many times to get people’s support after the overthrow which is associated with many deaths and the gross repression of uprising masses.
But timely talks can be a desirable way and may be helpful many times, instead of using force, to deal with mass uprisings, though it is often less successful when they go out of control. Given the avoidable adverse outcomes of the usage of extreme force involving the law enforcement agencies on the uprising masses in the mass movement, the stepping down of the government, instead of taking a hardline and forceful approach against the uprising people, is another but the better solution — many times. But it remains unclear whether the stepping down of the government can alone address the reasons for mass uprisings always in different countries.
While the military becomes the transitional government after the resignation or overthrow of the government in different countries, the transitional government is also formed by civilians with or without the support of the military many times. But whoever may comprise the transitional government, the reasons for the mass uprising including economic grievances and political repression need to be addressed. It is also imperative to address revengeful killings, which sometimes take place in different countries after the resignation or overthrow of the government. Among others, elections need to be held at the earliest possible time to put an elected government in place.
Amir M Sayem
Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
