POBNEWS24, Desk report Dhaka, Feb 10,2025: According to this report published in the US media, the International Republican Institute- IRI had been conspiring against the Awami League government since 2018. Realizing that BNP would not work, young people were trained. The artistic community and even LGBTQ people were used.
An online newspaper in the country has revealed the US government’s many years of efforts and plans to overthrow the Awami League government in Bangladesh. They have highlighted several secret documents, which show that the country’s government started this effort since 2018.
The media outlet called The Gray Zone wrote that before overthrowing Sheikh Hasina, the International Republican Institute (IRI) had trained a large workforce with funding from the US government, which included rappers and LGBTQI workers from various categories. Keeping in mind the issue of ‘change of power’, they also organized programs like ‘dance performances by transgender people’.
IRI has been trying to continuously destabilize the politics of Bangladesh, and has successfully implemented that mission.
According to these documents, the US government’s first choice was BNP. However, they realized that the party did not have much public support, and they were hesitant to make the right decisions at the right time. On the other hand, the Awami League was in a strong position. Later, the US government changed its strategy. They selected young people, trained them to spread messages using social media. They also used artists to shape public opinion against the government.
Journalist Max Blumenthal is the founder of this media outlet. It was initially known as ‘The Gray Zone Project’. It started operating independently after 2018.
The news website is mainly a strong critic of US foreign policy. In addition, the media outlet is also known for taking a humanitarian stance on behalf of countries that have suffered tragic consequences at the international level or faced extreme disasters in various fields due to the US, and are victims of war because of the US.
Max Blumenthal is a journalist, author, blogger and film director. He has written for The Nation, Alternate, The Daily Beast, and Al Akhbar. He has also contributed to Al Jazeera English, The New York Times, and Los Angeles Times. He has also worked for Russia’s Sputnik and Russia Today.
His report states: After months of continuous efforts, violence, and protests, Bangladesh’s elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was finally ousted on August 5. When the military took power and announced the launch of a so-called “interim administration,” video footage showed Hasina fleeing to India by helicopter.
After a large number of student protesters stormed the Prime Minister’s residence, the Western media and many of their progressive supporters welcomed the uprising. They presented it as the defeat of “fascism” and the restoration of democratic rule.
Sheikh Hasina’s successor, Dr. Yunus, is a member of former US President Bill Clinton’s ‘Clinton Global Initiative’ and has won the Nobel Prize for his work on microfinance. Yunus himself has praised the protest movement as a ‘meticulously designed plan’ and has identified its leaders.
A message was circulated from Sheikh Hasina, who is in India, saying that she (Sheikh Hasina) was removed from power because she refused to allow the establishment of a US military base on Bangladeshi soil. The US State Department, however, dismissed this allegation.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel claimed in front of reporters, “Any allegation that the US had any role in Sheikh Hasina’s resignation is completely false.”
However, leaked documents reviewed by The Gray Zone confirm that the IRI worked with a clear mission to ‘destabilize’ Bangladeshi politics. The US State Department was also regularly informed about their goals and progress. Those documents were marked as “confidential and/or protected.”
IRI is an organization under the Republican Party-run National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which has worked under the Central Intelligence Agency-CIA for the past 40 years. This organization works to change power in various countries around the world.
The leaked documents reveal that IRI secretly trained opposition parties by spending millions of taka before removing Sheikh Hasina. Later, it created a secret network among the country’s youth with the aim of changing the government.
Among those funded and trained by this Republican Party-run organization were rappers, minority community leaders, and LGBT activists who organized “hijra dance performances” in the presence of US embassy officials.
Mission started in 2018
The protests that led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government began in 2018. At that time, thousands of young people took to the streets of Dhaka to demand safer roads after a bus driver ran over two schoolchildren. The protests forced Sheikh Hasina’s government to enact stricter laws against reckless driving.
At that time, the BNP, capitalizing on the students’ movement for safer roads, staged a series of street protests, which often turned violent. (To be continued)
