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00:00:38Hello and welcome to Global Eye. Every week we bring you a selection
00:00:41of the best reports from BBC World Service from a different
00:00:45part of the world. I'm Sami Awami,
00:00:48BBC Africa correspondent. Two weeks ago, I was dispatched
00:00:52to Madagascar to cover the anger and frustration of
00:00:56Generation Z, which has fueled political unrest.
00:01:00In this program, I will explain the importance of these developments.
00:01:03Of course, Madagascar is not
00:01:07the only country struggling with protests.
00:01:10All over the world, young people are demanding
00:01:14a better life from their leaders. And
00:01:17the response from many governments has been extreme violence. This is the
00:01:20Jatra highway. You can see the police are shooting.
00:01:24We will also see a BBC report about one of the worst
00:01:28massacres in Bangladesh's history amidst protests
00:01:32that led to the fall of the government.
00:01:35And we will go to Indonesia, where
00:01:38local residents are coping with their villages being
00:01:42submerged. I realized that these trees can stop
00:01:45the waves and prevent erosion.
00:01:49Madagascar is the
00:01:55fourth largest island in the world and has a population
00:01:59of approximately 32 million people. The country boasts rich biodiversity
00:02:03and pristine nature. But
00:02:06behind these beautiful landscapes, a crisis is unfolding that
00:02:09threatens the country's stability.
00:02:13Madagascar is the world's largest producer of vanilla, but
00:02:16it is also one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the
00:02:20International Monetary Fund, more than a quarter of the population lives
00:02:24below the poverty line, and only about a quarter of the people
00:02:28have access to electricity.
00:02:30Madagascar is one of the youngest countries in the world. Until
00:02:3465 years ago, it was a French colony, and over
00:02:38half of its population is under 25 years old.
00:02:42Since its independence, Madagascar has been caught in a cycle
00:02:46of coups, disputed elections, and economic setbacks.
00:02:49The recent protests initially began due to
00:02:52widespread power outages and water shortages.
00:02:56But they soon escalated into a broader dissatisfaction
00:03:00with the country's leadership over unemployment and economic
00:03:03mismanagement.
00:03:06We don't have electricity and water regularly. When Malagasy children have to
00:03:10study in the dark, what will become of this country's future?
00:03:13Where is the wealthy Madagascar that many countries envied? In
00:03:17late September, protests turned violent when security forces
00:03:20opened fire on protesters. At least 14 people were killed
00:03:24and dozens were injured.
00:03:25The
00:03:28government claimed the crackdown was necessary to prevent
00:03:32foreign sabotage. But human rights organizations
00:03:34considered the government's response disproportionate and illegal.
00:03:38President
00:03:41Andry Rajoelina, who was previously a DJ, was
00:03:45impeached and removed from office, and the Supreme
00:03:49Constitutional Court appointed a special military council,
00:03:52CAPSATO, as the new leader. We have taken
00:03:55power. This is the presidential palace.
00:04:00Amidst the unrest, I had an interview with Colonel
00:04:04Randria Nirina. The
00:04:06country is in chaos
00:04:09because there is no
00:04:12president. He has left
00:04:16the country. The president of the Senate
00:04:19is also not here, because I removed him. We have
00:04:23a prime minister without a government. So
00:04:27who is running the country?
00:04:30That's what I'm asking myself. It's
00:04:33complete chaos.
00:04:37It's really complete chaos. Since
00:04:40my conversation with him, Colonel Randria Nirina has been sworn
00:04:43in as the president of the new military government
00:04:47and has pledged to hold new elections within two
00:04:50years. For the second time in just over
00:04:54a month, youth-led protests have led to the overthrow of
00:04:57the government, and this indicates a wave of
00:05:00dissatisfaction among Generation Z worldwide. In Nepal,
00:05:04protests against corruption led to a storming of parliament
00:05:08and the prime minister's resignation, with 70 people killed.
00:05:11The desire
00:05:15of young people has been inspired by youth movements around
00:05:19the world. Solidarity in the digital
00:05:22world connects these seemingly disparate uprisings,
00:05:26from demands for educational reform in Morocco to
00:05:30protests against crime in Peru.
00:05:33Technology has led to the formation of a common
00:05:36visual language. Emoji of clenched fists and flames,
00:05:40manga characters, and comic book heroes
00:05:43who fight corrupt systems. These symbols have
00:05:46become tools of mobilization. Memes for resistance that
00:05:50know no bounds.
00:05:52The Generation
00:05:55Z revolution in Bangladesh
00:05:59has been highly influential. In July
00:06:022024, youth anger over controversial quotas
00:06:05for government employment led to nationwide protests.
00:06:08It is estimated that during
00:06:12several weeks of unrest, about 1400
00:06:14people were killed and thousands were injured.
00:06:17But what really happened and who
00:06:21is responsible? The BBC team, using so-called
00:06:25open-source methods, has investigated one of the
00:06:28key days of this revolution by analyzing videos, documents,
00:06:32and eyewitness accounts. We see Ridhiya's report on this. August
00:06:365,
00:06:492024. For weeks,
00:06:52protests have been underway across Bangladesh's capital,
00:06:55Dhaka. Protesters are fleeing
00:06:59a hail of bullets. They keep shooting.
00:07:08police are firing indiscriminately, killing at least
00:07:1152 people and injuring many more.
00:07:15Using unseen footage, we uncover
00:07:18the police narratives, the protesters' accounts of
00:07:22these events, and those responsible. We will
00:07:25avenge every drop of spilled blood.
00:07:29Bangladesh
00:07:36was under the rule of Sheikh Hasina
00:07:39and her Awami League for 15 years.
00:08:11A law that restricted access to government jobs allocated about
00:08:1530% of jobs to families of soldiers from the country's
00:08:19war of independence.
00:08:20Students
00:08:25like Russell Mahmud coordinated these protests.
00:08:29Seeing the discriminatory nature of the quotas, I realized
00:08:32I might become a victim of this inequality and
00:08:36not be able to get a good job. People from all over joined
00:08:39us.
00:08:48The protests are met with violent police
00:08:51suppression.
00:08:53Communications are cut across the country,
00:08:56and the government orders an internet shutdown.
00:09:00The government
00:09:00wanted to
00:09:04suppress this movement at all costs.
00:09:07Bijoy, a young student, became
00:09:10one of the voices.
00:09:42they use. This leaked audio file, the authenticity
00:09:46of which has been confirmed by the BBC, shows that
00:09:50he directed the security forces. I have
00:09:54publicly ordered them to use lethal weapons from now on.
00:09:57Wherever they find them, they will
00:10:00shoot.
00:10:02I won't go anywhere without my brother. Release
00:10:06my brother. But the crackdown intensified
00:10:09the protests. You can never stop this movement.
00:10:12We will continue to protest,
00:10:16and on August 5, protesters
00:10:18in Dhaka demanded her resignation.
00:10:21Among the protesters were two friends, Shawan and Miraj.
00:10:25Miraj believed
00:10:28that change was necessary. He thought
00:10:31that the problems afflicting Bangladesh, especially
00:10:35discrimination in employment and unemployment,
00:10:38needed solutions. Wherever
00:10:41he saw injustice, he
00:10:45protested.
00:10:47He
00:10:52and I were always in the neighborhood.
00:11:27What happened next led to one of the worst instances
00:11:31of police violence in Bangladesh's history.
00:11:34We have collected and analyzed hundreds of videos, photos,
00:11:38and eyewitness accounts to paint an accurate picture of
00:11:41the events. This is the
00:11:44Jatra highway. You can see the police shooting.
00:11:47That's the sound of a
00:11:49single shot.
00:11:52At 1:05 PM, police
00:11:56exited the
00:11:57station.
00:12:02They push protesters back along the highway.
00:12:05The
00:12:08protesters are driven back.
00:12:11The army arrives and positions itself between
00:12:15them and the police. The news
00:12:18spread that Sheikh Hasina was going to
00:12:22resign and might issue a command.
00:12:38In the afternoon, he fled by helicopter to a military
00:12:41airport.
00:12:44Almost simultaneously, army vehicles begin to
00:12:47leave the area. But forces are still
00:12:51deployed outside the police station. Miraj and
00:12:54Shawan moved towards the station.
00:12:56We were standing there,
00:13:00watching, when suddenly
00:13:03either a gas canister or a car
00:13:07tire exploded with a loud
00:13:11bang. I started
00:13:12running.
00:13:15But Miraj stayed and filmed the soldiers
00:13:19leaving the police station.
00:13:21A few seconds after
00:13:46I saw Miraj lying among other dead bodies.
00:13:48I couldn't
00:13:50control myself.
00:13:54A few moments ago he was next to
00:13:58me, and now he was gone. It was very
00:14:00sad.
00:14:04But for those who were still on the streets, the horror
00:14:08continued. At 3:27 PM,
00:14:12police retreated to a temporary army barracks,
00:14:15and some others, in civilian clothes, fled.
00:14:18Some officers were trapped
00:14:22inside the police station, while protesters entered
00:14:25the building, set it on fire, and at least six
00:14:29officers were killed. Videos show that the army
00:14:32merely watched during the shooting.
00:14:36Answer me. Why did they shoot? How
00:14:39could so many people be killed before your eyes? Go and
00:14:42see how many bodies are piled
00:14:59up. As the chaos subsided, one
00:15:02question remained: Who is responsible? The
00:15:05police officers we spoke to claimed they were just
00:15:09following orders. We operate under a chain of
00:15:13command. Going beyond
00:15:14orders is not allowed.
00:15:17Abul Hassan, acting head of Jatrabari
00:15:20Police Station, was present at the scene during
00:15:23the massacre.
00:15:26The station commander was
00:15:29in contact with senior
00:15:32officials. At that moment,
00:15:35he was our leader,
00:15:38and we did everything he said. We were
00:15:41obliged to carry out orders without question.
00:15:45Hassan was arrested,
00:15:49but we were told that he was taking orders
00:15:52from senior officers during the protests. One
00:15:56of them was Senior Detective Harun al-Rashid,
00:15:59who was seen commanding the police in
00:16:03Jatrabari in July. Previously, when we were
00:16:06moving forward.
00:16:32Anyone who wants to disrupt order and law, it doesn't
00:16:35matter.
00:17:13He is now in exile, but in Bangladesh, a court convicted him of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death.
00:17:16He strongly denies these charges.
00:17:20The Awami League also denies its responsibility
00:17:24for the massacre of protesters. His
00:17:27trial is still ongoing.
00:17:29August
00:17:335th was a happy day for everyone.
00:17:43We comfort ourselves with the thought that my brother's
00:17:47sacrifice and blood helped free
00:17:50the country from oppression and build
00:17:54a new
00:17:55country.
00:18:01I can only hope that people
00:18:05cling to hope without
00:18:21Miraj getting the justice he
00:18:24deserves.
00:18:28When I think about those events, tears
00:18:30come to my eyes.
00:18:33We lost so many brothers. We regained
00:18:37our independence, and I no longer feel afraid.
00:18:40The fear I had is completely gone. Now
00:19:51, the use of technology by young people to launch
00:19:54major movements is nothing new. The Arab
00:19:58Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement in the 2010s
00:20:01relied on Twitter for information. But for this generation,
00:20:05who grew up with smartphones and in quarantine, platforms
00:20:09like Instagram and TikTok are so much a part of their daily
00:20:13lives that they are considered a fundamental right, and
00:20:16government efforts to control and restrict access to them
00:20:20have been met with explosive
00:20:22reactions.
00:20:24And now we go to Indonesia and the northern coast of Java,
00:20:28where villages are quietly disappearing due to land
00:20:32subsidence and the gradual advance of seawater inland.
00:20:35Experts
00:20:47are dealing with this situation.
00:20:57Along the northern coast of Java, the sea is devouring
00:21:00villages. Java, Indonesia's most populous
00:21:04island, hosts more than half of the country's
00:21:07284 million population, and accounts for more
00:21:10than 55% of the country's economy.
00:21:12Ningsih
00:21:15has lived in Yeritanutan her entire
00:21:18life.
00:21:21What was once a quiet fishing village has become
00:21:25deserted as its neighborhoods have been completely
00:21:27submerged.
00:21:30When I was young, before I got married,
00:21:33there was no such flooding. It was
00:21:36dry here.
00:21:40But over the years, things have gotten
00:21:44worse and worse.
00:21:46This village is one of several struggling with
00:21:50severe land subsidence caused by decades of excessive groundwater
00:21:54extraction. It has also been affected by rising
00:21:57sea levels for years. Ningsih has witnessed
00:22:01floods destroying roads, engulfing homes, and forcing
00:22:05many families to leave the area. Her
00:22:09family decided to stay, but this
00:22:12is what they face every day. When the
00:22:15high tide comes, the water rises
00:22:18up to here. Everything is underwater,
00:22:21even inside the rooms. It usually starts rising
00:22:25around 1 or 2 PM and recedes around
00:22:293 or 4 AM. On the northern coast of Java,
00:22:32more than 30 million people live in areas at risk
00:22:36of being submerged. Factories and industrial areas have
00:22:40replaced mangrove forests and fish farms, accelerating
00:22:44a gradual catastrophe already exacerbated by climate
00:22:47change. Experts warn that by
00:22:502050, a large part of these coasts
00:22:54may be submerged. The government is now building
00:22:57a massive defense system, including a 500-kilometer
00:23:00sea wall and giant pumps to contain
00:23:04the sea. But critics say these
00:23:07measures may not be enough, especially with
00:23:10continued development and coastal land reclamation.
00:23:14Nearly 300 kilometers from Ningsih's village
00:23:18in the coastal city of Kendal, a man is trying
00:23:21to save his home from erosion. Mangrove
00:23:25roots protect the coast from erosion and storms
00:23:28and provide breeding grounds for fish and
00:23:32shrimp. Kendal has experienced the
00:23:35worst coastal erosion since
00:23:39around 2019. That's
00:23:41when we really felt the severe
00:23:44impact. Why did this happen? Then
00:23:47it became clear. The
00:23:50problem was land use change. Coastal
00:23:53areas were converted into industrial areas
00:23:57and their use changed. Factories
00:24:00and ports built in the Kendal industrial area
00:24:04have long been accused of destroying coastal
00:24:07mangrove forests, a claim officials deny. They
00:24:11say land subsidence was a serious problem
00:24:14long before the factories were built. But with
00:24:18the loss of natural barriers,
00:24:22the sea began to swallow the land. The government
00:24:25has denied the claim that industrial areas
00:24:29are the root cause of the problem, saying
00:24:32that the subsidence of Java's coastal areas
00:24:36is primarily a natural process. However, Wasito has witnessed
00:24:39this destruction firsthand and decided to take
00:24:42action. When the first trees grew
00:24:46and gradually filled the surrounding area,
00:24:50the locals were excited and joined
00:24:53me. When I saw the trees grow
00:24:57and the sand stopped there, I realized these
00:25:01trees could stop the waves and prevent
00:25:04erosion. Since 2006, Wasito
00:25:07and his neighbors have planted thousands of mangrove trees,
00:25:10creating a living wall to prevent the sea
00:25:14from advancing. This forest now stretches along
00:25:18the coast, protecting people's homes and livelihoods.
00:25:22But with further land development, the remaining
00:25:25mangrove areas are rapidly disappearing. If the
00:25:28entire coast becomes industrialized, the
00:25:31remaining protected
00:25:33areas will need special
00:25:35attention. Otherwise, the damage will
00:25:39not be limited
00:25:40to the coastline.
00:25:43As sea levels continue to rise and the consequences
00:25:47of climate change intensify, coastal communities
00:25:50in Java's subsiding areas are striving to
00:25:53protect their land.
00:25:56Thank you for joining me in Madagascar. We look
00:26:00forward to your comments
00:26:02on Global Eye. Write to us on social media
00:26:06with the hashtag #BBCGlobalEye. Next week we will be
00:26:09with you from Peru. Goodbye.
00:27:30on Aparat.
00:27:47As people in Iran deal with unstable and expensive
00:27:50internet, another concern has been added for many.
00:27:54What if the US, which has started to lift some
00:27:58sanctions waivers for Iran, also lifts waivers related
00:28:01to technology and electronic communications? What's the story?
00:28:05Over the years, the US government has imposed various sanctions
00:28:08on Iran, but for some of them that significantly
00:28:12affect the Iranian people's use, it has granted
00:28:16waivers. Meaning, it first imposed the sanction, then
00:28:19said, "For now, we won't implement this part." For
00:28:23example, regarding security certificates, which are very
00:28:26important for services related to financial transactions,
00:28:30or even regarding Iranian users' access to many free services provided by American technology companies, such as Google services.
00:28:47The Iranian user is caught between foreign sanctions
00:28:50and domestic inefficiencies. On one hand, foreign
00:28:53sanctions have affected the user, and on
00:28:57the other hand, inefficient domestic services,
00:29:00wrong policies, lack of proper
00:29:02decision-making, and unpreparedness for critical
00:29:06situations. With rising tensions between Iran and the US
00:29:10in recent weeks, Donald Trump's government has lifted
00:29:14similar waivers, including those related to educational
00:29:17and cultural affairs. Consequently, Iranians can no longer
00:29:20participate in many foreign language proficiency tests,
00:29:24a requirement for anyone who wants to immigrate,
00:29:28especially for further education. This has also
00:29:31heightened concerns about the possibility of technology
00:29:35sanctions being imposed on Iranians. For
00:29:39many years, we have been grappling with this
00:29:42issue of sanctions and the internet in Iran because
00:29:45there have been sanctions, and then they came
00:29:49and issued permits to say that you can,
00:29:52for example, have access and such, but as soon
00:29:56as there is a war, as soon
00:29:59as a political dispute occurs,
00:30:03this access to the internet and online
00:30:07services is jeopardized because, unfortunately,
00:30:11these permits are not enough. It always
00:30:14affects the ordinary person who is
00:30:17behind their computer and wants
00:30:48days? How are
00:30:50you able to connect? If you can connect at all, how much has this internet connection been fragile and exhausting for you, or perhaps it hasn't made much difference to you? Write to me. And now on BBC Persian Television, current issues.