Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory study of Bangladesh’s “Shahbagh Movement” in 2013, which started after an Islamist leader was given life time imprisonment by a court for his crimes during Bangladesh’s liberation war against Pakistan in 1971. The protesters demanded that the Islamist leader should be hanged for his crimes. The protest continued for several months, and led to the hanging of the leader. Secular forces were in the forefront of this movement supported by the ruling Awami League party and the country’s leftist groups. Drawing from Michel Foucault’s theory of power, I argue that the movement was a power struggle between the secular and religious forces in Bangladesh. Using critical discourse and content analysis, and drawing from Derrida’s tolerance rhetoric, I challenge the conventional wisdom of secular politics that it is tolerant compared to violent religious groups. I argue that in power struggles, secular forces can act like religious groups and can be intolerant. I also delve into the reasons why political Islam is gaining ground in rural Bangladesh. First, I propose that secularism has a hegemonic nature in non-Western societies where it is viewed as an ideology exported from the West. Second, secularism has class character in Bangladesh. Secular supporters are mainly urban elites and from middle income groups, while religious people are members of low and lower middle income groups from rural areas. Third, coined from Robin DiAngelo’s concept “White Fragility,” I suggest that secular supporters in Bangladesh have “Secular Fragility,” which acts like “White Fragility.”