Almost a year has passed since the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian government, brought down by the historic July–August 2024 mass uprising often called the Monsoon Revolution. The student-led upheaval toppled Hasina, who fled the country on Aug. 5, 2024, and left over, at least, 1,400 people dead in the ensuing violence . Amid promises of a democratic transition, an interim administration under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge. One of its early vows was to formally recognize the uprising through an official proclamation, a foundational act to validate the revolution. Yet today, that promise has not only gone unfulfilled but has increasingly been deprioritized, as the interim government continues to shift its position without articulating a consistent or principled stance on the urgency of issuing a proclamation. What was once presented as a foundational step in the democratic transition now appears sidelined, caught in a cycle of political equivocation and strategic ambiguity.
In the immediate aftermath of Hasina’s ouster, some leaders of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) movement planned to announce a “Proclamation of the July Uprising” on August 5, 2024, at Dhaka’s Central Shaheed Minar monument. But with the urgent task of forming an interim government, that plan was postponed. By late December 2024, SAD and a National Citizens’ Committee again rallied supporters to gather at Shaheed Minar on December 31 for a proclamation of the uprising . At the eleventh hour, on the night of December 30, the interim government abruptly intervened, announcing it would itself prepare and issue the proclamation. Protest leaders stood down to give the government a chance.
Surprisingly, just a week later, the interim authorities reversed course. On Jan. 9, 2025, an adviser to the Yunus government stated that it would not directly issue a July proclamation after all, only “help in the process” of crafting one by consensus. In the ensuing months, as little progress materialized, frustration grew. By May 2025, students and activists were back in the streets demanding action. In response, the interim Council of Advisers held a special session on May 10 and promised to finalize and publish the proclamation within 30 working days (by late June 2025) . That self-imposed deadline has long passed, June 25 came and went, with no proclamation in sight. The interim government has since grown silent on the matter. Whatever the reasons for this paralysis, bureaucratic inertia, political infighting, or fear of ruffling allies, the damage is already being done. The essence of the July uprising and its goals risk being eroded by official neglect.
Throughout history, revolutionary proclamations have been crucial in defining a movement’s intent and securing its legacy. From the Declaration of Independence in the American and French revolutions to proclamations in Vietnamese and Tunisian uprisings, such documents serve as statements of principles, memorials to sacrifice, and blueprints for nation-building. In Bangladesh, however, the 2024 July Revolution has yet to officially name itself. This silence leaves the uprising vulnerable to historical erasure and political manipulation. Activists worry that if Hasina’s Awami League, now outlawed and on trial, ever returns to power, it could cynically recast the 2024 revolt as sedition or even terrorism. Indeed, without a formal proclamation to cement the uprising’s legitimacy and narrative, the revolution’s heroes could be painted as traitors by those eager to rewrite history.
Yet despite broad consensus among student leaders, civil society, and much of the public on the need for a proclamation, indecision and bickering among political parties have stalled its realization. The case for finally declaring the uprising is as urgent as ever, for reasons that are ethical, historical, and transformative.
An Ethical Imperative
The moral weight of an official proclamation lies in its power to honor the sacrifices of those who rose up against authoritarian rule. For many who took to the streets, the 2024 mass uprising was not merely political, it was existential. It was a righteous rebellion against a repressive regime, akin to what philosopher Walter Benjamin termed “divine violence,” a pure act of justified resistance against the brutalities of fascistic power. Protesters, most of them young students, literally risked life and limb for a vision of a democratic, just, and equal Bangladesh. Many paid with their lives: more than 1,400 protesters were killed in the government’s crackdown during the revolt , and countless others were injured or maimed.
A proclamation would serve as an enduring tribute to these individuals, both the living and the martyred. It would formally acknowledge their courage and suffering in the pursuit of freedom. Ethically, the interim government (or, if it fails, the people themselves) has a duty to enshrine their sacrifice into the nation’s story. Such a declaration would be a pledge that those who bled for Bangladesh’s democracy will not be forgotten, and that their ideals will guide the country forward. Failing to do so not only dishonors the fallen, but also demoralizes those who continue to struggle for a better Bangladesh.
A Historical Witness
Just as the 1971 Proclamation of Independence established the sovereign authority of the people over the state at Bangladesh’s birth, a formal proclamation of the 2024 uprising would stand as a historic testament to the people’s renewed assertion of that authority. The Hasina era was marked by extreme state repression, including enforced disappearances, police killings, and a culture of impunity for abuses. The July uprising was a collective act of reclaiming the country’s dignity and its long legacy of resistance against tyranny and discrimination. In rising up, Bangladesh’s youth and ordinary citizens placed themselves in the proud tradition of 1971 and other movements where the people asserted their right to self-determination.
Philosopher G.W.F. Hegel described history as the development of freedom’s consciousness. In that sense, the 2024 revolt represents a new milestone in Bangladesh’s journey toward freedom. It was not an “accident” or a mere outburst of anger, it was the culmination of years of mounting inequality, corruption, and state violence under an increasingly autocratic regime. The young protesters who led the uprising are not simply agitators; they are agents of history, pushing forward the consciousness of freedom in their nation.
A proclamation would validate this pivotal role. It would officially recognize that in July–August 2024, the people took back their mandate, that sovereignty resides with them, not with any one leader or party. Such a document would also begin reframing Bangladesh’s national narrative, linking the Liberation War of 1971 with the “July Revolution” of 2024 as two chapters in the same ongoing story of popular resistance and the quest for justice. By bearing witness in writing to what happened and why, the proclamation would help guard the truth of the uprising against future distortions. It would ensure that future generations learn about 2024 as a legitimate people’s movement for democracy, a proud moment in history, rather than allowing opponents to paint it as a coup or chaos.
A Transformative Blueprint
Beyond memory and honor, a proclamation holds the potential to guide Bangladesh’s future. The July uprising has already unleashed new political energies and aspirations, calls for justice, equality, inclusion of marginalized groups, and accountable governance. An official proclamation could crystallize these aspirations into a visionary blueprint for a new republic. In concrete terms, it could enumerate the core principles and reforms arising from the struggle, providing an ideological foundation for a post-Hasina Bangladesh.
Indeed, the draft Proclamation of the July Uprising that student and citizen groups prepared in December 2024 hinted at transformative changes, from institutional reforms and justice for past atrocities to potentially overhauling elements of the 1972 Constitution . A formal declaration could set out commitments to finally end Bangladesh’s cycle of political vengeance and one-party dominance. It might pledge electoral and judicial reforms, protections for minorities, and safeguards against the return of authoritarianism. In short, it could function as both a charter of the revolution’s ideals and a roadmap for building a “new democratic republic” out of the old system’s ashes .
Unfortunately, crafting such a document has been mired in political indecision. Divisions among the established political parties, and perhaps reluctance by interim authorities to overstep their mandate – have repeatedly delayed the process. Earlier attempts to involve party leaders in drafting a proclamation faltered amid wrangling over content. Many now argue that the proclamation should come not from government officials or traditional politicians, but from the revolutionaries themselves, those who bear moral legitimacy, if not formal authority, to speak for the uprising. “There may no longer be an ideal time, but it’s not yet too late,” as one leader from the new National Citizen Party (NCP) puts it. Some activists are calling for a people-led committee of students, intellectuals, and civic leaders to finalize and release the proclamation independently, rather than waiting indefinitely for bureaucrats and party elites to act. Others still hold out hope that renewed public pressure will spur the interim government into keeping its word. Either way, the transformative ideas born in the revolution will not wait forever on procedural niceties, they demand to be codified and carried forward.
A Legacy in Limbo
Despite persistent calls from activists and civil society, the momentum to issue the July Revolution’s proclamation has faded alarmingly in recent months. The sense of official urgency has all but evaporated. The interim government, once entrusted as the custodian of the uprising’s promises, has yet to formally acknowledge the very revolution that enabled its rise to power. While officials maintain that consultations with political parties are “ongoing,” those discussions have dragged on inconclusively, even as the costs of inaction grow more acute.
In a perplexing move, the interim authorities recently announced a month-long series of commemorative events to mark the anniversary of the uprising, yet still offered no clarity on the status of the official proclamation. As one prominent NCP leader noted, “Without declaring the proclamation, the interim government has no moral right to celebrate the uprising.” The attempt to honor the movement through public events while sidestepping its formal recognition has only deepened the disillusionment among activists, who view such gestures as performative at best, and hypocritical at worst.
With each passing day, the 2024 uprising becomes more susceptible to co-optation, distortion, or outright erasure from public memory. Already, the outlines of the revolution are beginning to blur, its significance recast as transitional noise rather than a transformative rupture. If not deliberately defined and documented, even the most powerful popular movements can fade into ambiguous footnotes. The ideal moment for a proclamation, during the immediate aftermath of victory, may have passed, but its necessity remains as urgent as ever.
The longer this void persists, the greater the risk that the revolution’s meaning will be overwritten by competing narratives. The Monsoon Revolution of 2024 opened a path toward a more democratic and inclusive Bangladesh, but that path remains precarious and incomplete. A formal proclamation would not be a symbolic afterthought; it would be a foundational gesture to affirm the uprising’s legitimacy, safeguard its legacy, and orient the country’s political trajectory. Until the revolution is named, claimed, and codified, its transformative promise will remain suspended, vulnerable to revision, repression, or oblivion.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of the South Asia Times.
