What demands have the workers been making in the strikes and protests over this disaster?

Badrul Alam – They are demanding the trial of the owner of the collapsed building and the arrest of the owners of the five factories in the building. They also want safety in all workplaces, proper treatment from the owners, compensation for the families of the people who were killed and help for those who are in hospital.

They are demanding a specific building safety code. There are many other potentially dangerous garment factories which need investigating.

The owner of the Rana Plaza has been arrested, the government is committed to get him tried in court, but according to the current building code he will only get a three year imprisonment. This not the proper punishment for him. After three years he will be free to do more harm to the workers.

The protests are demanding a new law so that in future no owners of buildings and factories cannot get away with this kind of thing.

Similar things have happened in Dhaka in the past. Last year in November, 112 people were burned to death at a fire in a garment factory (Tazreen Fashion). The owner of that factory (Delwar Hossain) was never punished.

Is your party raising any special demands or ideas?

We talk about the question of safety at work. We also raise the question of the system, and the workers’ place in the system. We want to create workers’ counter-hegemony. We talk about the need for revolution. Workers need rights but this society cannot provide those rights. Only workers can solve these problems.

What about the ability of the workers to organise in trade unions and those unions to exercise control over health and safety?

Garment workers have a legal right to trade unions but organisers are not allowed into the factories to build trade unions. The law is on the workers’ side but the owners defy it. This is especially true in the Special Economic Zones.

The lack of trade unions means many bad things happen to the workers. The organisation among the garment workers has also, to some extent, been also corrupted by government institutions.

Some garment workers are being used by the government. Some garment workers have collaborated with the owners. And this is doing harm to a united movement. But, on the whole, garment workers are very militant and the protests have been strong.

The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and is trying to take control of the protests.

Yes, the opposition is using the protests and all kinds of struggles, even those built by the garment workers. And they have strong links with religious extremist groups. But when the opposition were in power they did the same things to the garment workers.

That garment workers are part of the “formal sector” — what about workers in the informal sector?

Workers in the informal sector are even more vulnerable. At least there are laws in favour of formal workers. Most workers are in the informal sector, and outside the law. Again, organisation is key.

We’ve read about big demonstrations organised by Islamists demanding stronger religious laws. What effect are they having on the garment workers’ movement?

There have been very big demonstrations but their demands are illegitimate. They are not rational. Mostly their demands are against the rights of women — they are demanding that the government pass a law restricting women’s rights.

Their demands are medieval. They believe in the rule of the Qu’ran, in the rule of Allah; their organisation is called “Protection of Islam”.

They claim to be non-political and non-partisan, saying that they’re only for Islam, but they’ve said that the government should accept and implement their demands, or it’ll be removed or forced to resign.

On 5 May, the Islamists set up barricades in the streets. They initially said they would leave, but then committed to stay until the government resigned. In the early morning of 6 May, the state moved in to disperse them, and many Muslim militants were killed in these clashes. The government is claiming around 20 people were killed, Hifazat-e-Islam is saying that thousands have been killed, Amnesty International says 44 have been killed.

On 11 May, progressive women’s organisations gathered in front of the National Press Club and declared that women will not be bound by Hifazat’s demands. Since our independence in 1971, women have achieved a lot and they are not ready to lose it.

There were around 20,000 on that demonstration, with 100,000 Hifazat supporters demonstrating on 6 May.

Where is Hifazat’s support drawn from?

Many of them are young students from madrasas. A lot of them don’t know that much about the political demands; they go to the demonstration out of loyalty, or because they hear that someone might be saying something about the Prophet or about Allah.

We spoke to some of the young students, and they told us they didn’t know that much about it. They said they were called by their Huzur, the senior scholar of their madrasa, and told they would be given travel and food expenses for a trip to the capital city. A lot of them come from different districts and remote areas.

How have workers reacted to the demonstrations?

Workers are also protesting against Hifazat. Most garment workers are women, so if Hifazat win their demands their rights will be severely restricted and they may not be able to go to work.

They have used the example of Reshma Begum, a garment worker who survived for more than two weeks in the rubble of Rana Plaza. They have said that this shows how women workers can survive in very difficult conditions, and will not accept being ignored or repressed by any corner, including Islamist militants.