The recent survey by Open Society Foundation titled ‘Open Society Barometer: Can democracy deliver’ appears to have rekindled some hope as it found that, globally, 86 percent people have faith in democracy. Perhaps it’s even more encouraging for us as the percentage of faithfuls in democracy in Bangladesh is five percent higher than the global average. However, to overlook the small print would mean not noticing the danger signals as democratic backsliding globally, and in our homeland, could lead us to a nightmarish situation.  It is already ironic that while we are observing the International Democracy day today, the most authoritative evaluation of the state of democracy worldwide, V-dem Institute’s Democracy Report 202 3 noted that “Advances in global levels of democracy made over the last 35 years” were “wiped out.” V-Dem Institute, under the University of Gothenburg  in Sweden produces the largest global dataset on democracy for 202 countries from 1789 to 2022. V...

Our foreign ministry, reportedly, has informed a parliamentary standing body that Bangladeshi expatriates involved in “anti-government activities” abroad will be brought under law. One report published in this newspaper on October 28, titled ‘ Expats involved in anti-govt activities to face music’ noted that the report submitted by the ministry officials in said, “Sadly, besides playing a positive role in protecting the interests of Bangladesh and sending remittances, many of the expats are engaged in propaganda against Bangladesh and the government. The government is working to bring those who are engaged in anti-government activities and giving provocative and completely fabricated statements to book.”  Apparently, it may sound like a patriotic duty of the government to counter anti-Bangladesh propaganda. However, the word “anti-government” in the statement clearly implies that it has nothing to do with patriotism, but to silence critics of the government. And the efforts or act...