To commemorate the youth who sacrificed their lives to have their languages recognized as official by the Government in 1971, many events are organized every year on 21 February in Bangladesh. This day which has gained recognition from the UN as the International Language Day is a special day in the calendar of the country. But to keep alive the sacrifice of the youth and their memories, an annual book fair is also organized in Dhaka that lasts for the whole month. Held at the Bangla Academy at the National Research Institute, the fair attracts avid book readers from all over the capital and also many others from different parts of the country. The fair draws a fair degree of media attention.

Fifty five ‘We Can’ student Change Makers from 11 districts used the book fair this year to spread the message of ‘We Can’. From 19 February to 28 February, they shared campaign messages and the motivation behind it with writers, readers, publishers and almost with everyone who attended the fair. They did this by interacting with people on a one to one basis and distributing campaign material in the form of posters, pamphlets, leaflets and booklets.

28 of the 55 students were girls and were either from the high school or university. Each one of them spoke to as many as 70 people in a day. Speaking of their experiences, they say they were very ‘encouraged’ by the response of the readers, writers, actors and journalists. They were particularly happy to have met with writers Dr.Zafar Ikbal and Emdadul Haque Milon and Ali Imam, a producer with the national television.

Visitors to the fair asked many questions about the campaign. In a report compiled by the students, the questions asked pertained to the relevance of the concept of the Change Maker, how women can be empowered to prevent and end violence against them, ways to make domestic violence a societal issue as opposed to a family issue, ways of opening up a dialogue on domestic violence with the community and the role of students in the campaign.

Students had to face adverse questions like why they were wasting time in efforts like this and observations that incidents of domestic violence occurs only in rural areas and that with women getting more opportunities the violence against them is negligible. The students said they were able to answer these questions and convince the people that domestic violence is far more widespread and economic liberalization does not translate into reduction in violence against women in homes or the larger society. They said they were also able to convince people about the crucial role the youth can play in promoting social cohesion and changing attitudes.