Trivializing the suffering of humans and birds: birdshot, psychic numbing, and the martyrdom of Abu Sayed in Bangladesh

By Scott Slovic

Sabrina Masud of Queen’s University, Canada, has recently published an article about the killing of a university student in Bangladesh, who was participating in protests against the government’s policy of favoring descendants of freedom fighters for government jobs. As Masud explains, Abu Sayed was shot four times at close range with birdshot, suggesting that the perpetrators wanted both to inflict suffering and dehumanize the victim. The author argues that the use of birdshot “reduces living beings—whether human or animal—to mere targets, stripping them of their vitality and reducing them to inanimate objects.”

Masud also points out that Sayed is one of many victims of state-sponsored oppression in Bangladesh. She writes: “The shift from Sayed’s iconic death to the anonymity of 90 deaths illustrates the unknowability of scale. Sayed’s death, interpreted as a catalyst for the movement, holds more meaning than the statistic of 90 faceless bodies.” Murals, art, and articles such as Masud’s have helped to combat the compassion fatigue resulting from large numbers of victims and the dehumanization caused by the use of birdshot as a lethal weapon of government oppression.

Bangladesh Police are detaining a man at the University of Dhaka premises, a day after the clash between anti-quota protesters and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) members (Ruling Party Student Wing), at the Dhaka University area, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 17, 2024. Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Teachers of the University of Dhaka march towards the Shahbagh Police Station to speak to police to release arrested students. July 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain.

Read Sabrina Masud’s article [December 12, 2024, in Synapsis.]