On the occasion of International Democracy Day on 15 September, an open discussion titled Forty Days of Uprising: What Were People Thinking was held at the University of Dhaka. Emphasizing this year’s theme of “empowering the next generation,” the event focused on the critical role of young people in promoting democracy and ensuring that their voices are included in public policy formulation and decision-making. To prevent democracy from relying on one-sided information distribution, as seen in past governments, speakers also highlighted the expectations of the general public from the interim government to generate dialogue and action on how the state can best serve its people.
The discussion featured distinguished speakers, including Imran Matin, PhD, Executive Director of BIGD, BRAC University; Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of Citizens for Good Governance (SHUJAN); Dr. Samina Lutfa, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka; Mirza M. Hasan, PhD, Senior Research Fellow at BIGD, BRAC University; and Dr. Asif Mohammad Shahan, Associate Professor at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. Representatives from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and National Citizens Committee (NCC), including Samantha Sharmin, Mamun Abdullahi, Md. Asaduzzaman, and Rownak Jahan, also attended the event.
We cordially invited attendees to join the open discussion on Forty Days of Uprising: What Were People Thinking on Sunday, September 15, 2024, in commemoration of International Democracy Day. This year’s theme was “Empowering the Next Generation.” During the event, the results of the “Pulse Survey” conducted by BIGD, aimed at understanding public sentiment following the events of August 5, 2024, were also presented.
