Special Issue: Pandemic Asia. 2020 July/August
The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 18 | Issue 15 | Number 10 | Article ID 5444 | Aug 01, 2020
Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Japan Focus.

COVID-19 in Bangladesh:
How the Awami LeagueTransformed a Crisis into a Disaster

Ikhtisad Ahmed

Abstract:
In the case of Bangladesh, COVID-19 has laid bare the shortcomings of the state, underscoring the complicity of the military, elite class, Islamists and intelligentsia in the government’s dysfunctional, apathetic, and authoritarian approach. This essay breaks down the Bangladeshi government’s response along three key lines: the first to examine the legal basis for its response to the pandemic, the second the exploitation of labour rights and how it affects public image, and third he suppression of freedoms of speech and expression. Through discussion of these key tenets, this essay provides a comprehensive indictment of how Bangladesh is turning a crisis into a disaster.

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