Hitting the Achilles' Heel

MYTHS are like actors waiting in the wings, and make cameo appearance when history is ready to repeat. Once again it was evident last Monday when a small incident magnified to rock the country. A brawl at a soccer game between students and army men turned our streets into battlefields. Human follies is what we should blame for it. If anything it reminds me of a myth. It reminds me of the Achilles' Heel.
For the sake of those who may not remember it: When Achilles, a Greek hero, was an infant, his mother had dipped him in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel. She had done it to make her son invulnerable where the waters touched him, which excluded areas covered by her thumb and forefinger. In the Trojan war, Achilles died when Paris fired a poisoned arrow and hit that spot in his heel.
Ever since then the phrase ''Achilles' Heel'' has been used as an expression for a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead one to downfall. Those who started it and those who couldn't preempt its spread, failed to realize that one small incident could have such widespread ramifications and turn into a showdown against this government. It looked as if all the educational institutions in the country were soaked in kerosene. One spark of discontent ignited a fire that is still burning.
It is possible that the politicians have fanned the fire to keep it going. In his address to the nation Wednesday night, the chief adviser blamed the violence on the "evil forces." He has also assured us that the government was forced to impose curfew to protect the lives and property of people. He further said that the curfew was a temporary step and would be withdrawn as soon as the situation improved.
That is one of the many ways the whole thing could turn out. But one of the concerns is whether this should be seen as a sign of defiance. Has the violence on the streets and campuses made a crack on the fortified walls of the Emergency Rule? Has it jarred loose the grip of the semi-civilian government which had come to power with ironclad popularity?
Perhaps some or all of those in the government will bury their heads in the sand and like to think that nobody is watching. But the fact remains that the government should have avoided this confrontation.
To the extent that quick decision was taken to remove the army camp, and that the government itself, in effect, apologised to the students, it should have calmed the situation. But it was the police brutality of the first night that angered the students so.
Students are a difficult ballgame and no matter how much we want to ban their politics, politics infiltrates homes through them when families see the world through the eyes of their children.
The most alarming part is that even if student politics can be crushed, it has the uncanny power to rise from its ashes. In 1968 two rival groups of students fought each other in Mexico City and the government responded by sending riot police next day to stop the accompanying vandalism and to arrest the perpetrators. These policemen attacked the students so ferociously that it led to countrywide protests, which engendered an unending cycle of university-state conflict leading to the Tlatelolco massacre. For the next 30 years, the fallout of this massacre reverberated through the Mexican society and shook it in its foundation.
The Mexican movement revealed the system for what it was: authoritarian, sometimes brutal, and primarily interested in making the rich richer. Previously immune from governmental violence, the upper and middle classes learned through their children that they would be attacked if they questioned the system too closely. Scholars, both domestic and foreign, began criticising the system and calling for democratic reform. In 1997, the ruling party lost control of the lower house of Congress, the Mexico City government, and the governorships of several states.
The history is not to scare the government which has no intention to spend three decades in power. Yet the ultimate concern is that student revolts seldom die down and almost always lead to wider and deep-running conflicts. This is where the events of last few days leading to indefinite curfew in six divisional headquarters should ring a bell.
It is not exactly clear how the volatile situation is going to be resolved. A few days of curfew, expulsion of students from their dorms, closing of campuses are temporary solutions, and, if past is any experience, these measures are of limited value unless the real issues are addressed.. For last seven months, the political parties were looking for a lifeline and the government will throw that lifeline into their lap if it fails to tackle the present situation wisely.
The Wednesday night speech of the chief adviser did not tell us how that is going to be done. If the police becomes more repressive and the army is used to quell the resistance, something which also took place in the Mexican experience, it is likely to push the politicians and people towards the students. Compounded with its failure to control prices and law and order, the overwhelming popularity of the government may continue to erode.
On the other hand, if the government decides to back out, it will expose its weakness. It will embolden the students and the politicians to further undermine its authority. In short, the tiny incident at a soccer field has discomfited the government. If it gets embroiled in this crisis, the reforms of political parties, crusade against corruption and holding of election by the end of next year will be disrupted.
One option could be that the government will try to have an honest dialogue with the students and avoid further conflicts. But the students must also realise that widespread vandalism that accompanied their agitation is totally unacceptable and has greatly damaged their acceptability.
Sisyphus, a Greek mythology figure, was condemned to push a rock up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. The rock which was pushed up on January 11 is on the move again. Students, teachers and those who love this country shouldn't let it slide back.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.