The COVID-19 pandemic led many social movement researchers to investigate whether the lockdown measures resulted in a decline in protest activism or the growth of public expression of claim-making politics. Between 2020 and 2021, Bangladesh witnessed protests from labour migrants, a group usually considered insignificant in the landscape of political mobilisation. Relying upon newspaper reports, this article explores the role of emotions in the protests led by this economically important segment of Bangladesh’s population in this period. It suggests that the pandemic generated not only emotions of anger, fear, anxiety but also compassion and solidarity, which catalysed the labour migrants’ protest. These emotions were not unique to the labour migrants who returned to Bangladesh but were part of a more extended, transnational emotional landscape that came into being due to the pandemic.
Bangladesh Live News. (2020, December29) ‘Qatari Expatriates Protest in Front of the Foreign Ministry’. URL (consulted August, 2023), from https://www.bangladeshlivenews.com/en/bangladesh/details/qatari-expatriates-protest-in-front-of-the-foreign-ministry
2.
BenskiT., & LangmanL. (2013) ‘The Effects of Affects: The Place of Emotions in the Mobilizations of 2011’, Current Sociology, 61(4): 525–40.
3.
BraunV., & ClarkeV. (2006) ‘Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2): 77–101.
4.
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). (2021) ‘Overseas Employment and Remittances from 1976–2021 (up to May)’. Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment. URL (consulted April, 2022), from http://www.old.bmet.gov.bd/BMET/stattisticalDataAction
5.
ChattorajD. (2020) ‘The Grateful Migrants: Indians and Bangladeshis in Singapore in Times of COVID-19’, Southeast Asia: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 20(1): 44–62.
6.
ChattorajD. (2022) ‘“We are all migrant workers”: Commonality of Bangladeshi Migrants’ Experiences in Singapore Amidst COVID-19’, International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 18(2), 9–36.
7.
ChowdhuryM. B., & ChakrabortyM. (2021) ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on the Migrant Workers and Remittances Flow to Bangladesh’, South Asian Survey, 28(1): 38–56.
8.
DonosoS., PugaI., MoyaC., & GerberM. M. (2022) ‘Is It Worth the Risk? Grievances and Street Protest Participation During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile’, Journal of Politics in Latin America, 14(3): 338–62.
9.
FlamH. (2005) ‘Emotions’ Map: A Research Agenda 1.’ In HelenaF. & DebraK. (Eds), Emotions and Social Movements (pp. 19–41). London: Routledge.
10.
GamsonW. A. (1992) Talking Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
11.
GoodwinJ., JasperJ. M., & PollettaF. (2004) ‘Emotional Dimensions of Social Movements.’ In SnowD. A., SouleS. A., & KriesiH. (Eds), The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (pp. 413–32). Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.
12.
GouldD. B. (2015) ‘The Emotion Work of Movements.’ In GoodwinJ. & JasperJ. M. (Eds), The Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts (pp. 254–65). Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
13.
HaqueK. M., & RahamanA. (2021) ‘Migrants During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Discursive Class Formation of Returnee Expatriates’, Journal of Social and Development Sciences, 12(2): 27–34.
14.
IacoellaF., JustinoP., & MartoranoB. (2021) ‘Do Pandemics Lead to Rebellion? Policy Responses to COVID-19, Inequality, and Protests in the USA’. WIDER Working Paper (No. 2021/57).
15.
International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). (2022) New Trends on Return and Remigration in the COVID Era: Evidence from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Vienna: ICMPD.
JamilR., & DuttaU. (2021) ‘Centering the Margins: The Precarity of Bangladeshi Low-income Migrant Workers During the Time of COVID-19’, American Behavioural Scientist, 65(10): 1384–1405.
18.
JasperJ. M. (1998) ‘The Emotions of Protest: Affective and Reactive Emotions in and around Social Movements’, Sociological Forum, 13(6): 397–424.
19.
JasperJ. M. (2011) ‘Emotions and Social Movements: Twenty Years of Theory and Research’, Annual Review of Sociology, 37: 285–303.
20.
JasperJ. M. (2014) ‘Constructing Indignation: Anger Dynamics in Protest Movements’, Emotion Review, 6(3): 208–13.
21.
KriesiH., & OanaI. E. (2023) ‘Protest in Unlikely Times: Dynamics of Collective Mobilization in Europe During the COVID-19 Crisis’, Journal of European Public Policy, 30(4): 740–65.
22.
LorchJ., OnkenM., & SombatpoonsiriJ. (2022) Sustaining Civic Space in Times of COVID-19: Global Trends. GIGA Working Paper No. 332.
23.
LiX., EnglishA. S., & KulichS. J. (2021) ‘Anger Among Chinese Migrants Amid COVID-19 Discrimination: The Role of Host News Coverage, Cultural Distance, and National Identity.’PLoS One, 16(11): e0259866.
24.
MerriamS. B., & TisdellE. J. (2016) Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
25.
MilanC. (2018) ‘Emotions That Mobilise: The Emotional Basis of Pro-asylum Seeker Activism in Austria.’ In della PortaD. (Ed.), Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis’ (pp. 183–208). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
26.
New Age. (2020, September22) Saudi Arabia Expatriates Continue Demo. URL (consulted September, 2022), from https://www.newagebd.net/article/116975/saudi-arabia-expatriates-continue-demo
27.
NTV Online. (2021, June13) ইতালিতে ফেরার দাবি আটকেপড়া প্রবাসীদের. URL (consulted April, 2022), from https://www.ntvbd.com/bangladesh/ইতালিতে-ফেরার-দাবি-আটকেপড়া-প্রবাসীদের-917777
28.
OppK. D. (2009) Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Critique, and Synthesis. New York: Routledge.
29.
ParvezM. R. (2021) ‘Social Stigma and COVID-19: The Experiences of Bangladeshi Returnees from Italy’, Dve Domovini, 54: 63–75.
30.
PaulR. (2020, August27) ‘Bangladesh Approves Late-stage Trial of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate’. Reuters. URL (consulted April, 2022), from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-bangladesh-china-idUSKBN25N2ER
31.
PlümperT., NeumayerE., & PfaffK. G. (2021) ‘The Strategy of Protest Against Covid‐19 Containment Policies in Germany’, Social Science Quarterly, 102(5): 2236–50.
32.
QuarantaM. (2017) ‘Protest and Contentious Action.’ In RickardS. J. (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Politics (pp. 353–58). New York: Oxford University Press.
33.
RMMRU. (2020) ‘Migrants’ Plea to the Hon’ble Prime Minister Open Letter of 16 Migrant Rights Organisations. Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit. URL (consulted April, 2022), from http://www.rmmru.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Open-Letter-to-PM-in-English.pdf
34.
SahaiR., BansalV., SikderM. J. U., KysiaK., & ShenS. (2021) ‘Shattered Dreams: Bangladeshi Migrant Workers During a Global Pandemic’, Journal of Modern Slavery: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Human Trafficking Solutions, 6(2): 106–32.
35.
SiddiquiT. (2005) ‘International Labour Migration from Bangladesh: A Decent Work Perspective’. Policy Integration Department Working Paper 66. Geneva: International Labour Organization.
36.
SteinhilperE. (2021) Migrant Protest: Interactive Dynamics in Precarious Mobilizations. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press B.V.
37.
The Daily Manab Zamin. (2020, March15) ইতালি থেকে ফিরলেন ১৪২ জন হজ ক্যাম্পে বিক্ষোভ. https://mzamin.com/article.php?mzamin=217575&cat=1
38.
The Daily Observer. (2020, July10) ‘142 Italy Returnees Quarantined at Ashkona, Some Protest’. https://www.observerbd.com/news/264840.
39.
UllahA. K. M. A., & ChattorajD. (2022) COVID-19 Pandemic and the Migrant Population in Southeast Asia: Vaccine, Diplomacy and Disparity. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.
40.
UllahA. K. M. A., NawazF., & ChattorajD. (2021) ‘Locked up Under Lockdown: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Migrant Population’, Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 3(1): 00126.
41.
van StekelenburgJ., & KlandermansB. (2013) ‘The Social Psychology of Protest’, Current Sociology, 61(5–6): 886–905.
42.
WoodR., ReinhardtG. Y., RezaeeDaryakenariB., & WindsorL. C. (2022) ‘Resisting Lockdown: The Influence of COVID-19 Restrictions on Social Unrest’, International Studies Quarterly, 66(2): sqac015.
