The Stentorian Newspaper

Author: nair25o

  • The Deadly 2024 Bangladeshi Student Protests

    The Deadly 2024 Bangladeshi Student Protests

    ZABED HASNAIN CHOWDHURY/AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

    By Om Nair, Stentorian Editor-in-Chief

    On June 5, 2024, the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (responsible for exercising jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters) reinstated the job quota that reserves a large portion of jobs for the descendants of freedom fighters. This was subsequently met with backlash, with six universities peacefully protesting against the quota ruling. The quota system in Bangladesh has been a contentious topic for several years and has just spiked in controversy due to civilians’ recent protests in the past couple of months.

    This controversial system, according to an article published by The Hindu Bureau, declares that roughly 30 percent of government jobs will be reserved for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters (or, more specifically, the soldiers who fought for the nation’s independence in the Bangladesh Liberation War). Previously abolished in 2018 following similar protests, the quota system was seen as unjust and discriminatory with numerous citizens believing that several civilians would be placed at a disadvantage due to their “not-so-favorable lineage.”

    After the holiday season, several clashes between police officers and students took place, mostly on July 10-17. Blockades were placed, officers were positioned to keep students out, and universities were closed.

    But, the most notable incident that took place occurred on July 18-19, when the police clashed with BRAC University students on the streets of Badda, as student protestors allegedly vandalized a police box and torched multiple motorcycles in Rampura as the violence spilled over to the Rampura Bridge. 

    This incident quickly escalated with many officials retaliating with lethal weapons. Police officers started to use tear gas, rubber bullets, and even live ammunition. Multiple students were harmed as a result, with at least 17 reported deaths resulting in the aftermath according to a report published on Al Jazeera‘s Website.

    Videos and documented reports have surfaced indicating that officers used firearms, particularly an AK-pattern assault rifle, during the height of the protests. Many human rights organizations (such as Amnesty International, a human rights non-governmental organization) deemed these actions as highly inappropriate and dangerous given the context of these situations.

    Emphasizing that the actions of the security forces were alarming and violated basic human rights, United Nations’ chief Volker Turk reacted to these events by calling for restraint and disapproving of the violence taken against the university’s students. 

    Soon after the event, law enforcement filed cases against hundreds of protestors, with documents detailing arrests and legal actions. The authorities inflicted several communication restrictions, targeting internet and social media access to control the spread of information and prevent the coordination of continued protests.

    This action was condemned by many journalists and news outlets, saying that this can produce harmful consequences. When people aren’t able to interact with each other freely, they may feel isolated and oppressed, which can spark more fire in protestors and thus lead to more aggressive demonstrations. Moreover, timely communication is necessary for coordinating responses to emergencies, like medical needs for injured individuals.

    While there have been many discussions about revising or even abolishing the quota system in Bangladesh, the federal government has not expressed any intention to eradicate (or lessen the effects) of the quota system. 

    Ultimately, the protests surrounding the Bangladesh quota system are dynamic and have resulted in a multitude of casualties. These demonstrations show no sign of calming down, and can very well lead to a more drastic outcome. One can only hope that an agreement is reached between the protestors and the federal government, so that these events reduce in its brutality and magnitude. 

  • Knife Violence: A Prominent Issue in the United Kingdom

    Knife Violence: A Prominent Issue in the United Kingdom

    By Om Nair / May 24, 2024

    A protest against gun and knife crime in Brixton, London, in May 2024. (Peter Marshall/Alamy)

    In 2023, on a Sunday night in the midsts of North London, a gang of thugs burst into a rural chicken shop and slashed a young man with their machetes as customers (and other employees working behind the counter) fled during the attack. The young man desperately crawled under the counter, hoping to hide from the lively mob. Sadly, it was no use. The group of thugs climbed over the top and, according to an article published by The Sun, “continued their attack on him” (Duffy). After the ordeal had ended, the young man was reported staggering away, with one of his pant legs appearing to have been viciously ripped from a machete blow. When police arrived at the scene (around 9:15 PM), two men – aged 20 and 17 – were taken to the hospital to treat their stab wounds. Fortunately, neither of their injuries were life-threatening. 

    Knife violence incidents are extremely prominent in the United Kingdom, with Home Office data, in March of 2022, showing that there were “261 homicides (currently recorded) using a sharp instrument, including knives and broken bottles. This meant sharp instruments were used in 405 of the 594 homicides that occurred in 2021-22” (UK Parliament). In 2023, in the city of London alone, 21 teenagers were killed – with 18 of them passing away from brutal stabbings.

    Famous English actor and rapper Idris Elba joined protestors from the “Don’t Stop Your Future” campaign outside Parliament, dressed in clothes in shoes that are characteristic of those who have been murdered by knives. “I can’t stay silent as more young lives are lost to these brutal and heartless crimes,” Elba said. “As school returns, too many young people will not be joining their classmates and too many grieving families have lost a young person they love in recent years” (AP News).

    The term “knife crime” has started to become a common phrase used in the media, yet the very definition of this phrase has become ambiguous. Knife crime can refer to a variety of circumstances, ultimately making it difficult to define and even comprehend its popularity in our society. To put it simply, knife crime refers to any illegal act that involves the appearance of a knife. This means that scenarios ranging from sexual assault and robberies can be deemed as a “knife crime.” 

    Recently, the media (news portals, media influencers, politicians, and more) have claimed that crimes involving the use of a knife are an “epidemic” and are detrimentally influencing the younger generation. A research report posted on the National Library of Medicine’s website titled “Exploring UK Knife crime and its associated factors: A content analysis of online newspapers” provided statistics that support this notion by mentioning the emergence of stabbing instances in the United Kingdom and other neighboring countries, “Knife crime offenses in England and Wales have increased by 80% in the last five years, reaching levels not seen since 1946. Offenses involving knives or sharp instruments rose by six percent from 47,388 to 50,019 in England and Wales before the first Covid-19 lockdown was imposed… Most of the victims and the perpetrators of these crimes were Black and Asian, especially young people aged to 10 to 25” (Vinnakota, Rahman, Sathian, etc. al.). 

    Quoted from a report written by Joshua Askew and Sudesh Baniya, ‘violence is like a virus.’ As cases of knife violence continue to surge in England’s society, the sense of fear that is associated with these stabbings will become contagious. That fear is often accompanied by a strong urge for security. Pointed out by Patrick Green, Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Kinsella Trust (an anti-knife crime charity), ‘The vast majority of young people don’t carry knives. They know it is wrong. But there are some who we as a society have failed to keep safe and help make better decisions. Social exclusion, poverty, deprivation, inequality, racism – a whole number of factors make people vulnerable to being drawn into crime and, ultimately, violence. Once it becomes established, it grows quickly.” 

    But, the United Kingdom isn’t the only country that is facing these colossally high knife crime rates. In fact, knife violence is also a prodigious problem in the United States. While the majority of the homicides committed in our nation are done so with the use of a firearm, recent federal research studies have displayed that knives are the second most used weapon of choice in murder cases. 

    So, while the UK government has been heavily criticized for their inability to maintain their high knife-crime rates in their streets, it is worth mentioning that knife violence is not just a local issue on the streets of London or Manchester, but rather a global complication concerning several countries and their citizens. A write-up created by Robert Kaiser named “The Global Rise of Knife Crime” jumped into this idea by providing statistics pertaining to certain countries that have shockingly high knife crime instances, “Let me highlight just a few headlines and dates of some rather horrendous violent incidents involving edged weapons from around the world, helping us to understand that it is a global issue, not limited to a certain belief, language, culture or country… Germany: Newspapers reported about a serious increase in knife crime, telling us that ‘…more than 1,600 knife-related crimes were reported in Germany during just the first five months of 2017, an average of 300 each month, or 10 each day.’ On the 20th of July this year (2018), at least 14 people have reportedly been wounded, two of them seriously, in a knife attack on a bus in Lubeck, Germany… Israel: Only a few days ago, on the 14 November 2018, a terrorist wounded seven police officers in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem… Australia: On November 9th, 2018, a man set a car on fire and stabbed three people in Melbourne, one fatally. He died in hospital after being shot by police.”

    Knife violence is a problem that is rarely mentioned or thought about when talking about global issues. Understanding the prominence of knife crimes, not just in the United Kingdom but throughout the world as a whole, can help several communities pay more attention to the gruesome (and frequent) consequences of knife violence.

    So, the next time that you find yourself participating in a discussion regarding difficult situations happening across the world, consider shedding light on knife violence and educating your peers on this topic. By talking about knife violence (and other sensitive subjects), we can help administer change by cultivating more attention around this problem.

    Citations:

    1).https://www.euronews.com/2023/04/20/violence-is-like-a-virus-why-are-so-many-british-kids-stabbing-each-other

    2). https://www.statista.com/statistics/195325/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-weapon-used/

    3). https://www.gafirm.com/legal-blog/commonly-used-weapons-for-homicides/

    4). https://www.ppss-group.com/blog/the-global-rise-of-knife-crime-why/