Much of the scholarship on Bangladesh’s founding places it within a narrative of repetition. It either repeats the partitions of 1905 or 1947 or the creation of India and Pakistan as postcolonial states. This paper argues instead for the novelty of Bangladesh’s creation against the postcolonial state, suggesting that it opened up a new history at the global level in which decolonisation was replaced by civil war as the founding narrative for new states.
Demonstrators observe silence together, they sing in tandem, give and listen to speeches and clarify what impelled them to come out of their homes and occupy public land. In the process, they tell us what they stand for and from where they speak.