Graffiti by anti-discrimination students movement wears a new look in Khulna

The Khulna city wears a new look as the anti-discrimination students movement are being created graffiti on different walls, university and college campus.

In tribute to the struggles and lives lost during the quota reform and anti-discrimination students’ movement, at different educational institutions including Khulna University (KU) and Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) are being created graffiti on the walls throughout the campus and the city.

Different group of students began creating graffiti at the university, college campus and different walls in the city in last July and it will continue after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government.

The artwork vividly portrays various slogans that were chanted during the movement.

These walls, touched by the students’ brushes, seem to have gained new life.

While visiting different campus and city streets during the last couple of days, this reporter found that huge graffiti throughout the walls with many slogans at Shibbari intersection, Zia hall and Railway Station wall on Jashore Road, KDA Avenue and elsewhere in the city wear a new and festive looks.

Pedestrians said, all the walls and city were covered by the slogans and pictures of fascists ruling party leaders one month ago.

Sharmila Shaheen, an MBA student of KU told BSS: “We don’t want to forget the second independence we’ve gained at the cost of blood.

“The graffiti is mainly to remember the revolution we’ve sparked and to ensure that future generations know that we achieved this freedom through sacrifices of blood,” she added.

Rahad, a student of Computer, Science and Engineering (CSE) of KU told BSS: “After a long struggle, we have achieved a much-desired victory.

Our graffiti project is to revamp the Khulna city and let future generations know the critical times we endured and the fresh lives and blood we sacrificed to gain our second independence.”

Babu of the Fine Arts Department of KU said: “Through various graffiti, we are expressing different sentiments. Our main goal is to remember those who were martyred in the anti-discrimination student movement.

“By creating these artworks, we hope to forever honor their sacrifices,” he added.

Saikat Muhammad Sohag, a local journalist, shared his thoughts, “The young generation can never be suppressed, nor will they ever be. They are the future of our country.

From controlling traffic to other activities, they are proving that the time for change has come.

“Through their graffiti, they are bringing the history of their oppression to light, which is highly commendable,” he added. (BSS)