IPU secretary general calls July uprising museum ‘powerful testimony’ to suffering under authoritarianism

Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary General Anda Filip has described the July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum as a “powerful testimony” to the pain and human suffering caused by authoritarianism and repression.

Eminent filmmaker and former cultural affairs adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government Mostafa Sarwar Farooki shared Filip’s remarks from the museum’s visitors’ book in a Facebook post.

Filip visited the newly inaugurated museum on Aug. 21 and wrote that she was “deeply touched” by the experience.

She described the museum as a testament to the “immense pain and human suffering” caused by authoritarian rule and repression, while paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the July-August 2024 mass uprising.

Filip also called the museum “a beautiful tribute” to the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of freedom and democracy.

The July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum documents the events surrounding the 2024 uprising, including the deaths and injuries during weeks of protests and a violent crackdown that culminated in the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024.