Bangladesh 2024:
The Revolution We Lived
| The Spark of a Generation
In July 2024, Bangladesh ignited. What began as outrage over the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of controversial quota policies erupted into a nationwide youth-led uprising demanding meritocracy, accountability, and an end to creeping authoritarianism.
This was more than a protest. It was a generational reckoning, driven by sky-high graduate unemployment and suffocating political repression.
While many organizations hesitated going against the regime, the Shirin Sajmila International Foundation (SSIF) stood up from the outset — transforming from a humanitarian powerhouse into the moral backbone of the revolution.
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1,000+ SSIF volunteers nationwide mobilized to sustain the protests with critical support : distributing meals, water, medical kits, and even printing thousands of placards that carried the hopes of an entire generation.
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From Chattogram to Dhaka, to our diaspora hubs in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Middle East, our rapid fundraising drives raised over $30,000 within days, financing life-saving interventions when banks, businesses, and many NGOs went silent.
| ssif: first to stand
| A Human Shield in the Streets
Life-saving Medical Response
As state violence surged, SSIF stood between life and loss. With unmatched resolve, our ambulances crossed red zones, our doctors transformed overwhelmed hospitals into emergency triage hubs, and our volunteers delivered care where no one else would. This was not charity—it was resistance through medicine.
| breaking the information seige
Global Outreach
& Digital Warfare
When authorities severed Bangladesh’s internet and silenced local outlets, SSIF launched an audacious counteroffensive:
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Our international outreach teams connected with over two dozen foreign media outlets, ensuring footage, testimonies, and data from the ground reached global broadcasters and press agencies.
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Simultaneously, SSIF’s digital mobilizers collaborated with influential content creators worldwide through social media platforms especially instagram — pushing social campaigns that broke through the blackout, generating millions of engagements and putting Bangladesh’s struggle on the global conscience.
Paying the Price
and Standing Tall
Our leadership paid nearly:
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8 SSIF leaders and volunteers including our executive director were detained, their only crime: feeding, treating, and defending their fellow citizens.
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Yet our legal division stepped in, securing the release of hundred arrested youth protesters, setting legal precedents for civil rights amid national crisis.
Healing Bodies,
Minds, and Economies
With the interim government’s swearing-in on August 5, SSIF pivoted overnight from emergency defense to long-term reconstruction:
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1000+ seriously injured protesters now receive comprehensive post-op care, trauma therapy, and vocational reskilling through our dedicated rehabilitation teams.
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We’re currently working in securing alternative incomes, sponsoring education continuance, and providing home visits to monitor recovery — rewriting what protest aftermath care can look like.
| Beyond the Victory
| Archiving Sacrifice
The First Nationwide Martyr & Injury Database
In a historic initiative, SSIF has undertaken the creation of our own comprehensive database of the injured protesters and martyrs of the July Revolution — a living archive designed not only to honor sacrifice but to power long-term policy and support.
Teams across all over Bangladesh have conducted home visits, meeting grieving families in villages and urban slums alike. They documented each story, verified needs, and delivered direct financial support — ensuring that no family stands alone in the aftermath of loss.
This database, meticulously assembled with testimonies, medical records, and economic assessments, will be serving as a dual purpose:
A policy tool for the governments and INGOs, guiding targeted compensation, vocational schemes, and future social protections.
A narrative archive, preserving the voices of those who bore the revolution’s heaviest costs, transforming private tragedy into a collective national memory.
By merging field compassion with data-driven governance, SSIF ensures that the martyrs and survivors of this movement shape Bangladesh’s next chapter — not as forgotten statistics, but as the architects of a fairer future.
| the blueprint
Building Resilience
into Democracy
SSIF’s holistic response stands unmatched:
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We fused emergency medical relief, psychological recovery, legal aid, economic reintegration, and international advocacy into a single, integrated ecosystem.
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This is not charity — it’s a new architecture for defending democracy, scalable across contexts wherever repression threatens the young and the brave.
| honoring the sacrifice
The Bir Chattala Movement
Under our Bir Chattala programs, youth transformed grief into memory — through massive mural campaigns, war memorial clean-ups, and public forums. Together, they’re rewriting Bangladesh’s streets as galleries of courage, reminding future generations of the price paid for justice.
