Shamsuddoza Sajen

Martin Moore and Thomas Colley, authors of Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News (2025), discuss how governments worldwide manipulate the media, reshape public perception, and construct competing realities in an age of digital disinformation. The interview was conducted by Shamsuddoza Sajen of The Daily Star.

Martin Moore and Thomas Colley, authors of Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News (2025), discuss how governments worldwide manipulate the media, reshape public perception, and construct competing realities in an age of digital disinformation. The interview was conducted by Shamsuddoza Sajen of The Daily Star.

At the heart of Required Reading are forgotten readers from the past.

The Awami League (AL) is very likely to haunt the entire exercise.

Badruddin Umar, the eminent public intellectual, historian, and political activist, passed away in Dhaka yesterday at the age of 94. He breathed his last at Bangladesh Specialised Hospital, Shyamoli, around 10:05am. He was suffering from old-age complications.

Hasina took dynasty politics to levels we could not have ever imagined. What happened to Sheikh Mujib’s former residence was unfortunate. But I would say that Sheikh Hasina is partly responsible for the incident.

August 5 became a watershed in Bangladesh’s history -- the climactic peak of the July uprising.

August 4, 2024 marked the deadliest day of Bangladesh’s student-led uprising, as the non-cooperation movement entered an explosive new phase.

On August 3, 2024, the anti-discrimination movement in Bangladesh reached a new peak as protesters rejected prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s offer for dialogue and instead placed a singular, uncompromising demand before the nation: the resignation of the prime minister and her entire cabinet.

After nearly two weeks of tense calm, Bangladesh once again plunged into violence on August 2, 2024, as widespread clashes broke out between protesters and police -- often aided by ruling party activists -- across multiple districts.

The day marked a turning point in Bangladesh’s deepening political crisis, as the government officially banned Jamaat-e-Islami and all its affiliated organisations, including Islami Chhatra Shibir.

As the sun rose on July 31, 2024, thousands of students, teachers, and citizens across Bangladesh prepared to join the March for Justice, a countrywide programme organised by Students Against Discrimination.

Amid continued mourning and mounting outrage, July 30 marked a powerful day of nationwide protests and symbolic resistance, as students, teachers, guardians, and citizens rallied across Bangladesh demanding justice for the lives lost during the quota reform movement.

On July 29, 2024, the Awami League-led 14-party alliance recommended that the government ban Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, citing their alleged involvement in anti-state activities.

By July 28, more than 2.13 lakh people—most of them unnamed—had been accused in nearly 200 cases filed with police stations across the capital in connection with the recent violence centring the quota reform movement.

City residents, still reeling from the trauma of deaths and destruction during the quota reform protests, felt a renewed wave of fear. Each day, particularly after sundown, convoys of vehicles carrying law enforcers reached neighbourhoods across Dhaka.

As Bangladesh reeled from days of unrest, the government intensified its crackdown. By 6:00pm on July 26, 2024, at least 738 more people had been arrested in the capital and several other districts in connection with the ongoing violence.

On July 25, 2024, two more individuals -- Zaman Mia, 19, a garment worker from Narsingdi, and Zakir Hossain, 29, a tailor shop employee from Rayerbagh --succumbed to their bullet wounds at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, according to hospital sources and their families.

At least 787 more people were arrested in the capital and other districts in the 36 hours leading up to 6:00pm on July 24, in connection with cases filed over violence across the country.

On July 23, 2024, the government issued a circular radically overhauling the quota system in public service recruitment. According to the new directive, 93 percent of civil service positions would now be filled through merit-based recruitment, up from the previous 44 percent, while the remaining 7 percent would be reserved under various quotas.