Authoritarianism on rise amid Covid-19: webinar
09 May 2021Authoritarian form of governance is on rise in Bangladesh amid the Covid crisis and the trend may continue through the use of the Digital Security Act, said speakers at a webinar on Saturday.
The webinar, titled Geo-politics of the pandemic: The Bangladesh Scene, was organised by Centre for Governance Studies, a non-government research organisation.
Distinguished Professor Ali Riaz of Illinois State University from the United States addressed the virtual event as the keynote speaker.
He said that the Covid-19 crisis had, in fact, caused an acceleration of what was happening before and hit the poor and the middle class most hard.
Riaz said that there had been growing anti-Indian sentiment in Bangladesh, particularly, after the Covid vaccine fallout with India.
In his view, China has emerged as a key player in the global geopolitics and Sino-American dispute in the Indian Ocean will affect Bangladesh also.
Professor Amena Mohsin of Dhaka University said that Bangladesh needed to maintain an equal distance with global powers.
In her opinion, given the rising economic and geographical situation, Bangladesh is in a critical state with India, China and USA.
Former election commissioner Shakhwat Hossain pointed out to the collapse of the public health system in the country.
He discussed about the failure in regards to the vaccine policy and the dependency for vaccines on a particular country.
The other participants of the webinar included resident representative of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Bangladesh Felix Kolbitz, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue Fahmida Khatun, SUJAN secretary of Badiul Alam Majumdar and former ambassador M Shafiullah.
Shafiullah expressed his concern about Bangladesh’s capability in maintaining a steady relation with both India and China and said he doesn’t believe Bangladesh can
maintain an equidistance with all the countries rather, it should follow a policy to protect its sovereignty.
The webinar was moderated by the host centre’s senior fellow Professor Asif Shahan of Dhaka University’s development studies department.
Former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury also took part in the open discussion.
The discussants stressed the importance of ‘friendship towards all and malice towards none’ foreign policy.
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