Journalism as political testimony

Md. Shakhawat Hossain’s My Journalism under Fascist Hasina: Leading in Tough Timesis not a conventional book written in retrospect. Rather, it is a compilation of 25 reports mostly published between 16 September 2014 and 09 October, 2024 in the newspapers Holiday, First News, and The News Times. As such, the volume functions less as memoir and more as contemporaneous political testimony.

A UC, Berkeley Visiting Scholar in Journalism Mr. Hossain has compiled some of his selected articles in this book for those pro-democratic politicians, academicians, journalists, intellectuals and human rights activists for their 16 years of long fights and sacrifices against the authoritarian rule of Sheikh Hasina. The fall of fascism didn't happen in just 36 days of July-August Student-Mass upsurge, 2024. This staircase of blood was built through the long, bloody political struggle of 16 years.  Until 2023, 7,188 people became victims of enforced disappearance while participating in the oust AL-government movement... They were subjected to extrajudicial killings, police torture, political revenge. According to figures provided by human rights organisations, the number of people killed in extrajudicial killings stands at 2,693... Those who became blind or disabled due to torture in police custody or other forms of abuse are national heroes. So, Bangladesh finally gets its “Second Independence” after a long bad and bloody political fight by the democracy loving people against domestic tyranny, corruption, and authoritarianism that grew under Sheikh Hasina’s lengthy rule of 16 years. Being a pen soldier, Mr. Hossain also took up his pen to join the fight for restoring democracy, rule of law and human rights in his beloved motherland Bangladesh, taking the high risk of loosing a lucrative diplomatic job at a foreign diplomatic mission stationed in Dhaka.

The book is mainly structured around four thematic pillars: Politics/Democracy/Polls; Law and Order/Human Rights; Corruption; and Foreign Affairs, through which the author constructs a sustained critique of governance trends in Bangladesh over more than a decade.

Elections and the Question of Legitimacy

The most substantial section, Politics/Democracy/Polls, interrogates the credibility of electoral processes. With articles examining voter turnout, allegations of ballot irregularities, and the broader shift toward what the author terms an “authoritarian state,” Hossain situates elections within a structural analysis of democratic backsliding.

What distinguishes these reports is their insistence that elections cannot be evaluated merely by procedural occurrence. Instead, the author repeatedly returns to questions of competitiveness, inclusiveness, and institutional neutrality. The argument advanced is that when opposition participation is constrained and public confidence erodes, electoral ritual risks replacing democratic substance.

For researchers of South Asian politics, this section offers insight into how segments of the press interpreted political developments during uncontested electoral cycles.

Human Rights and the Crisis of Accountability

The second section, Law and Order/Human Rights, moves from political structures to human consequences. Reports addressing enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and alleged impunity frame these incidents not as isolated events but as symptoms of systemic weakness in rule-of-law institutions.

Analytically, this section is significant because it blends journalistic reporting with normative concern. The author does not merely document allegations; he consistently links them to international human rights standards and the broader implications for democratic governance. In doing so, the book positions accountability as central to state legitimacy.

Whether readers agree fully with the severity of the author’s conclusions, the documentation reflects how rights-based discourse became embedded in political journalism during this period.

Corruption as Structural Impediment

The shorter Corruption section underscores economic governance. By highlighting large-scale financial irregularities and the corrosive effects of bribery, Hossain frames corruption not simply as moral failure but as a structural impediment to development and institutional trust.

Although concise, these chapters reinforce the book’s overarching thesis: democratic erosion, human rights concerns, and corruption are interconnected phenomena rather than discrete issues.

Foreign Policy in a Competitive Region

In Foreign Affairs, the analysis widens to Bangladesh’s geopolitical positioning. Discussions touching on India, China, and broader strategic tensions suggest that domestic political trajectories cannot be separated from regional power dynamics. The author implicitly argues that internal democratic conditions influence external perceptions and diplomatic leverage.

This section adds analytical depth by situating national developments within a shifting global and regional order.

A Documentary Compilation with Interpretive Intent

The dedication to the late Kamaluddin of Weekly Holiday and the late Mohammad Badrul Ahsan of Weekly First News signals the author’s acknowledgment of editorial platforms that sustained critical journalism. In the Preface, Hossain clarifies his intention to preserve these reports in permanent form so that the period may be assessed through primary journalistic sources.

As a compilation, the book’s strength lies in immediacy. These writings were produced in real time, reflecting the uncertainties and tensions of their respective moments. However, readers should also recognize that the work represents a particular interpretive standpoint. It is advocacy-oriented journalism, grounded in the author’s assessment of political regression.

Prediction of the Author

In the opening reports of the book, the author presents a carefully constructed political prognosis regarding the trajectory of the regime led by Sheikh Hasina. Through systematic observation of governance patterns, institutional centralization of power, constraints on media freedom, and the gradual shrinking of democratic space, he argues that prolonged authoritarian consolidation would inevitably generate structural instability. Rather than relying on rhetorical opposition, his analysis draws on political behavior, public sentiment, and socioeconomic undercurrents to forecast a looming crisis. His warning that sustained suppression and exclusion would culminate in mass resistance proved strikingly prescient, as the events of the July Revolution of 2024 unfolded in a manner closely aligned with his early assessments. This convergence between forecast and reality not only highlights the analytical depth of his reporting but also positions his work as an important documentary record of a trans-formative moment in Bangladesh’s political history.

Final Comments

My Journalism under Fascist Hasina: Leading in Tough Times serves as a valuable documentary archive of a contentious chapter in Bangladesh’s political history. Its analytical lens is critical and unapologetic, raising questions about democratic integrity, institutional accountability, and geopolitical alignment.

For scholars, journalists, and politically engaged readers, the book offers insight not only into events themselves but into how those events were contested and narrated within the public sphere. In that sense, the volume contributes to an ongoing debate about democracy, governance, and the role of journalism in times of strain.Hoping that this book will help repeatedly remind us the tyranny of Sheikh Hasina’s undemocratic authoritarian misrule of 16 years since 2008 in Bangladesh. 

The Reviewer is Secretary General of Bangladesh Society for Training and Development (BSTD) & former Director General of Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), Cumilla.