The second anniversary of the July Mass Uprising has given rise to extensive discussion about its successes and failures. It is true that the uprising brought an end to authoritarian rule. However, tangible clean governance is yet to emerge. Our painful collective past has come to an end, but it has not yet been replaced by a promising present. Even the hope for the future that the July Mass Movement had inspired now seems to be faltering as it confronts the realities of the present.

Renowned historian Dipesh Chakrabarty describes this tendency as "presentism." Politically, we remain trapped in the immediacy of the moment. As a result, we have failed to build a shared national memory.
This raises an important question: to what extent has the prospect of a cleansed political identity, one that was expected to emerge from the spirit of July, actually come into being?