He is seen running in the distance, and the pigs and the hens and the dog shout after him angrily. As I try to make sense today of the newest political developments in Bangladesh, and to peer into the future, it is this image that most closely reflects my sense of where we stand at this moment in our history.

This is a troubling thought and I wish that in the future I am proven wrong. In Animal Farm, the new leaders among the farm animals are finally no different from the old masters. But it is not simply a dark tale, skeptical about the possibility of real change. Rather, it is a warning, universally apt, for every attempt at change. The sign of doom is already palpable in the scene imprinted in my mind. For, as the farmer flees in fright, the basic condition of the farm remains unchanged. The leaders of the revolt have full power and discretion just as he did. Some of them may abound with goodwill but the tale shows that in the end this matters little. Power without accountability is simply that, whoever holds this power. Yet, it is a trap we stumble into again and again through history, each time mistaking it for something completely new.

It is not obvious how to ensure good governance when none, not even you and I, can be trusted with power. It means having a plurality of institutions in society, each independent, with powers to shape the future and act as a restraint upon the others. It is evident now that during the last sixteen years, the two main political parties had wielded too much power. But if their leaders leave politics, their heads will be decapitated. They risk becoming irrelevant. They will leave behind, not stability, but a vacuum which is most easily filled with another monolithic power structure.

For a short while after the new caretaker government came into being, there were demands within the Awami League and BNP for greater internal democracy. Had the process continued, these parties could have served as important building blocks in a new democratic system in the long run.

But it came to an abrupt halt with the ban on indoor politics. It is not clear where we go from here, and who could win in this struggle: if not all of us together, then none.