Overview of After Sheikh: what next for Bangladesh?
This episode of The Intelligence from The Economist (host Rosie Blore) focuses on three main items: a deep dive into the political fallout after a guilty verdict in the trial of Sheikh Hasina, the state and future of the US furniture industry amid tariffs and reshoring talk, and a short cultural piece on a new book about the history and oddities of the English alphabet. The core story examines how the verdict (delivered in absentia) could reshape Bangladesh’s politics ahead of an early-February election, regional diplomacy with India, and longer-term democratic reforms.
Bangladesh: verdict, reactions and political implications
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Summary of events
- Sheikh Hasina (described in the episode as a former prime minister who fled to India) was tried and found guilty by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for alleged crimes against humanity tied to last year’s deadly protests.
- The tribunal presented phone and video evidence alleging she ordered lethal force — including use of drones, helicopters and military weapons — against largely unarmed protesters. The sentence mentioned in the episode was death, and the ruling reportedly states she must surrender and return to Bangladesh within 30 days to retain appeal rights.
- The unrest began after the Supreme Court upheld a 30% government-job quota for children of 1971 freedom fighters. A heavy security crackdown on protests reportedly caused large numbers of deaths and injuries.
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Domestic reactions
- Interim government: hailed the verdict as historic and fulfillment of promises to bring perpetrators to justice, while urging calm and threatening strict action against disorder.
- Main opposition (Bangladesh Nationalist Party): welcomed the ruling and called it an end to dictatorship.
- Awami League (Sheikh Hasina’s party): condemned the trial as politically motivated, called it unfair, rejected the verdict and announced a national shutdown in protest.
- Public mood: mixed — celebrations in some quarters and street protests in others; security forces remain on high alert.
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Legal and human-rights concerns
- The International Crimes Tribunal, set up in 2009, has been controversial: critics (including Amnesty International) argue the court lacks full due process, limited defense witnesses and judicial shortcomings. Prosecutors argue standards were met.
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Political consequences and the road ahead
- Elections are due in early February; the episode highlights uncertainty over whether Awami League (potentially banned) can contest and how its support (surveyed at ~20% among those willing to reveal a preference) will affect stability.
- The July Charter: a reform blueprint (judicial independence, term limits for prime minister, increased women’s representation) will be put to a vote during the election and could determine the future trajectory of Bangladesh’s institutions.
- India-Bangladesh relations: Bangladesh has asked India to extradite Sheikh Hasina. India has noted the verdict but not committed to extradition; a future elected government in Dhaka pressing the issue could raise diplomatic tensions.
US furniture industry: decline, tariffs and reshoring limits
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State of the industry
- North Carolina’s furniture employment fell from ~90,000 in the 1990s to ~28,000 today, due to Chinese imports and economic shocks (e.g., the Great Recession). COVID produced a temporary boom in furniture demand, but housing starts and purchases have since slowed.
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Tariffs and policy
- President Trump imposed tariffs on imported upholstered wooden furniture, kitchen cabinets, and similar products, intended to protect and reshore US manufacturing. Tariffs rise further in January (as noted in the episode).
- Intended effect: make imports more expensive and give domestic makers an edge.
- Unintended/negative effects: higher costs for domestic firms that still import components (legs, fabrics), supply-chain uncertainty from shifting tariff policy, and price pressures on consumers.
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Structural challenges to reshoring
- Labor and skills shortages: many industry voices say the U.S. lacks enough skilled workers for mass furniture manufacturing.
- Some companies moved production from China to other Asian countries (e.g., Vietnam) rather than back to the U.S. because even with tariffs, Asian production can be cheaper.
- The realistic domestic niche: high-end, custom furniture and smaller, highly skilled factories rather than large-scale, low-cost mass production.
- Suggested approach: invest in training, computer-aided manufacturing and smaller efficient factories rather than rely solely on blunt tariff tools.
Alphabet and language: Why Q Needs You (book review)
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Book and theme
- Danny Bate’s Why Q Needs You gets a chapter for each of the 26 letters and blends linguistic history with entertaining stories about why the alphabet looks and sounds as it does.
- Traces the lineage: Egyptian complex scripts → Phoenician one-symbol-per-sound innovation → Greek addition of vowels → Etruscan and Roman/Latin adaptations that become the modern alphabet.
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Why English looks and sounds odd
- Historical changes, especially the Great Vowel Shift (roughly Chaucer to Shakespeare), changed vowel pronunciations but not spellings, producing many inconsistencies.
- Silent letters (e.g., B in debt/doubt) reflect Latin etymologies adopted by medieval scribes, not contemporary pronunciation.
- Q + U conventions: stem from Phoenician/Greek/Latin practices and Norman influence (Old English had different spellings, e.g., cwene → queen).
Key takeaways
- Bangladesh: The guilty verdict (and reported death sentence) for Sheikh Hasina — delivered in absentia — deepens political uncertainty ahead of elections, poses questions about the Awami League’s future, risks domestic unrest, and could strain India-Bangladesh relations depending on extradition choices.
- Justice and legitimacy: The International Crimes Tribunal’s history of contested due process means the verdict’s legitimacy will be disputed at home and abroad, complicating reconciliation and reform efforts.
- Furniture industry: Tariffs may help some domestic makers but raise costs, create supply-chain uncertainty and won’t solve structural shortages of skilled labor; long-term revival likely requires training and technological upgrades rather than tariffs alone.
- Language: Much of English spelling and letter-order oddities are the product of layered historical changes — borrowings, sound shifts, and scribal choices — and Danny Bate’s book popularizes that story.
Notable quotes and lines from the episode
- “We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence, that is sentence of death.” (quoted description of the tribunal’s judgment)
- “Unless Sheikh Hasina surrenders and returns to Bangladesh and is arrested within 30 days of this judgment, she cannot appeal the verdict.”
- “You just don't have enough trained workers in America.” (on limits to reshoring furniture manufacture)
- On language: the Great Vowel Shift “changed all of the long vowels” and explains many mismatches between letters and sounds.
Recommended follow-ups (what to watch for)
- Bangladesh: outcomes of the early-February election, status of the July Charter referendum, any formal extradition request from Bangladesh to India and India’s response, and domestic security developments around Awami League supporters.
- US furniture: implementation details and economic impacts of tariff hikes, firm-level shifts (e.g., production moves to Vietnam), and investments in vocational training and advanced manufacturing in furniture regions.
- Culture: read Danny Bate’s Why Q Needs You for an accessible tour of the alphabet’s history and English orthography.
Produced by The Economist; episode includes brief sponsor messages and shorter items on American manufacturing and a cultural book review.