Parsa S. Sajid

New York, NY

Other/Almost

I am from Bangladesh and I wanted to call attention to two revolutions/uprisings in the country's short history. First was in 1971 when we broke free from Pakistan. Second in 1990 when the people overthrew a military dictator.

1971 was before I was born and I was a too young in 1990 to actively participate, but I still have vivid memories from 1990. 1990 was before I moved to the US and first hand experience from leaving under martial law/curfew to overthrew of military dictatorship and knew people who incredible risks to organize and participate.

Given US role in the 1971 war, I would have hope you'd highlight that in your show.

There are so many pictures from these events that I don't know what to upload and what to leave out.

Lessons:

Role of social media: Both of these revolutions/uprising were before the advent of social media. Not to undermine the role of social media in Egyptian/Tunisian revolutions (I know Twitter has helped me to keep up to date and has been immensely helpful), but unjust regimes can be overthrown by a critical mass of people once fear can be overcome.

Post-revolution: If we can draw any lessons from Bangladesh, governing a just society can be just as difficult. Post-1990, we have had democracy but not democratic institutions. We are getting there and I wouldn't trade democracy for anything but it can be a long, hard road to establish democratic institutions.