Is the youth of Bangladesh able to raise their voices against the many discrepancies around them as was dreamed by poet Sukanta Bhattacharya? Are they able to show courage to protest against any crimes and irregularities? They are not being able to do so, reveals a survey of the Citizens’ Platform.
Forty three per cent of the participating youth said they feel hesitant, uneasy and reluctant to express their opinions, while 36.4 per cent youths said they were harassed for speaking out in the past.
The Citizen’s Platform conducted an online survey to highlight the thoughts and opinions of the youth in September and the first week of October. A total of 5,075 youths aged between 18 and 35 took part in the survey. They were asked about their participation in vote and politics, policy involvement and existing conditions of freedom of expression and representativeness in the country.
The answers the youth provided not only on freedom of expression but on the society as a whole and economy and politics paints an extremely distressing picture. As per the demography, youths constitute the largest section of adults in the country now but neither the state’s development philosophy nor its existing nature of democracy is being able to hold their aspirations. No development could be sustainable keeping the youths devoid of hope and out of the democratic process.
Among the youths who took part in the survey, 69.4 per cent identified corruption and nepotism as the prime obstacles to development. This is not the findings in the youth survey only. Rather, corruption has been identified as the main obstacle to development in various researches conducted by the government and non-government agencies.
The most concerning information is, as many as 18.7 per cent youths said they would migrate abroad permanently if they get the scope. Most of them have higher education.
Have our policymakers ever wanted to know why the youths are thinking of leaving the country for good? As per the survey report, a meagre 11.6 per cent youths are interested in politics and student politics. On the other hand, the number of youths who are disinterested in politics is three times more (35.2 per cent) than the number of youths who are interested in politics.
As many as 53.8 per cent youths told the survey that they could never exercise franchise in parliamentary elections. This is normal that the youths would lose interest in politics if they can’t cast votes.
There is no reason for the youths to have interest in student politics where elections to student unions have not been taking place for more than three decades.
The youth cannot keep trust on the development that cannot satisfy their demands. They cannot take the law merrily that stifles their voice and prevents their freedom of expression. The voice of older people can be silenced by intimidating, not that of youth. The day the Citizen’s Platform published its youth survey coincided with a rally demanding rights to vote and freedom of expression organised by young artists, writers and poets.
Development is never a rival of democracy.
But the policymakers of the state have now made democracy a rival of development. It cannot also be said that their development policy reflects the hope and aspiration of the youth. As a result, a section of youth wants to leave the country while another shows no-confidence in politics. Continuation of this situation can bring about a serious danger to the country. So, listen to the youth and let them speak.