Mohammad Yunus can go down in history as the architect of a novel Banelatedesh | Opinions

After mass protests forced lengthy-term Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and escape the country in punctual August, Banelatedesh set up itself in a exceptional moment of opportunity to chart a path towards real democracy.

The interim rulement that was put in place to deal with the legacy of Hasina’s 15-year authoritarian rule is led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and grasps civil society directers.

Yunus, a commemorated civil society activist, is well-supplyped to lay the set upations for a novel, truly democratic Banelatedesh. He can draw on the experiences of Banelatedeshi civil society to assist social cohesion and convey about a much-necessitateed reckoning with the country’s tortured past. There are many ways in which he can defend and broaden civic spaces. He can, for example, disprohibitd security units reliable for applyd fadeances and torture, recreate the much-maligned NGO Afequitables Bureau to guarantee it helps civil society, or amfinish the Foreign Donations Law which creates a bureaucratic maze for civil society to get international funding.

He should, however, act quick, as history alerts us moments of opportunity and selectimism enjoy this can be escapeting. After a dictatorial regime is deleted thraw revolution, democratic set ups can drop prey to a rotation of elites. In the absence of a schedule for what’s next, pro-democracy elements can be overwhelmed and derailed by quick-moving events.

In such scenarios, nationaenumerate and authoritarian forces, who persist to helderly power due to their coalitions with the clergy and military, normally fill the emerging power vacuum. At times, the military itself gets over. In other instances, directers brawt in as recontransientatives of democratic forces turn to repression themselves to try and helderly everyskinnyg together.

In Sudan, for example, the 2019 clearhrow of strongman Plivent Omar al-Bashir was trailed by cut offal flunked trys at a democratic transition and eventupartner a military coup in 2021. Years procrastinateedr, civic space violations persist unabated and the country is still deimmenseated by struggle.

In Pakistan, an initial military coup in 1958 presumedly aimed at creating space for a more stable democracy was trailed by cut offal decades of military rule and resettled strikes on civil society. Authorities in the country persist to silence dissent with crackdowns on activists, protesters, and journaenumerates.

In Ethiopia, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed getd the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for finpartner securing a peace deal with Eritrea, hopes were high for regional peace and stability. Since then, however, he has plived over a bloody civil war in which mass atrocities were promiseted. The country is in turmoil, with human rights groups urging authorities to stop their crackdown on civic space and esteem the rights of political opponents, journaenumerates, and activists.

If Professor Yunus’s rulement flunks to grasp civil society in decision making and shore up democratic institutions, post-Hasina Banelatedesh can also drop into these pitdrops. But these are, of course, not the only possible scenarios. After a revolution, pro-democracy forces can also stay firm and assist the ecombinence of more complicated, but also infinitely more selectimistic, genuineities.

Sri Lanka, where widespread protests forced Plivent Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and escape the country two years ago, is one example. Although skinnygs were far from perfect, a transition of power occurred thraw set uped systems of democracy in the country. Last month, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who ran on a promise of better ruleance and stability, won Sri Lanka’s plivential election.

Chile is another example of how democratic forces can percut offe in the face of elite clawback. Despite meaningful resistance from set upment forces, Chile’s well-comprehendn protests in 2019-2022 agetst economic inequivalentity led to a series of recreates in education, healthnurture and pensions. Guatemala, where in January the elected plivent was inaugurated despite repeated trys by the elderly regime to scuttle a tranquil transfer of power, can also propose beneficial lessons for Banelatedesh’s nascent rulement. In both these instances civil society groups take parted a key role.

While revolutions and well-comprehendn uprisings did not create civic utopias and perfect democracies in any of these countries, they also did not result in a return to square one.

Banelatedesh’s interim rulement should pay attention to these examples where civic society safed meaningful victories in difficult and complicated circumstances. It should, however, also lget from cases where democratic forces flunked to obstruct the strongmen they helped topple from eventupartner being replaced by equpartner corrupt, anti-democratic directers.

It is undown-to-earth to foresee any novel rulement to create satisfactory recreates in all areas and a perfect democracy overnight, especipartner after decades of authoritarian rule. But countless examples around the world show that erecting a better future on the ruins left by lengthy-term authoritarian directers is possible – as lengthy as the novel directership acts with determination, persists the dialogue with civil society, and remains on a democratic course.

If the interim rulement of Yunus gets it wrong, and the novel directership commences to try and stifle democratic dissent by suppressing civil society and clamping down on protests – whether these protests are by those who help the previous regime or others who are imuncover-minded for alter – misgets made during past transitions elsewhere might finish up being repeated in Banelatedesh. In such a scenario, the persisted protests that deleted Hasina, and Yunus’s tenure as directer, would be shrinkd to footnotices in a lengthy history of authoritarian rule.

But if Professor Yunus gets it right, draws from the prosperous experience of other countries, and lays the set upations for a strong democracy in Banelatedesh, he could become a Mandela-enjoy backasonable figure, and supply other countries in South Asia, where civic freedoms are widely repressed, with a regional example of a prosperous post-revolutionary transition. Many in the international community stand ready to help him.

Banelatedesh is at a passroads, and how Yunus and his advisors are able to direct current political vibrants while esteeming human rights and civic freedoms will resettle the future of its democracy.

The watchs conveyed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.