By Govinda Neupane
An Analysis. UWB received this article in email.
The so-called national consensus on holding the election of the constituent assembly may not necessarily provide synergy only for forward movement. The situation is fluid and complex and it is natural that the Maoists will maintain their army and even they may expand and strengthen their fighting capacity….
Therefore, the polarization between the parliamentary forces and the Maoists sounds imminent. Hence, in all probability, the people have to live in a situation of civil war till the unjust upper class Khas rule becomes history……
Once, I was in Phalaicha village, near Chyangthapu in northern Panchthar district. I saw large plots of fertile land where paddy was ready to harvest. In a mountainous region, it was something special. During discussions with the villagers, I found out that most of the plots belonged to the Khas (the ruling nationality in Nepal) families, though they were a tiny minority there.
After a few years, I saw the same phenomenon in Zimbabwe. Nearly all arable land had been captured by the white farmers. The sugarcane fields, fruit farms and maize or vegetable cultivations belonged to the Whites, whereas the black Zimbabweans had to satisfy with less fertile communal land or they had to survive in the patches of the bush.
Why the Khasas in Phalaicha and the Whites in Zimbabwe had the ownership over the most fertile land, though they were a tiny minority? Also, they had migrated much later than the indigenous people who cleared the forests, developed technologies appropriate to their time and started cultivations. This is a fundamental question. The class composition and nationality or racial dominance of a state structure, which controls power, makes all difference.
After the conclusion of the popular movement with partial success in April 2006, the late comers not only claimed victory but also grabbed opportunities.
The same happened before, during and after the Spring Thunder of 2006 in Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of people, particularly from the rural areas waged relentless struggle for more than a decade. Their resolute struggle gave birth to a bigger force and that force reached to the urban centers and resulted to a massive popular movement. Also, the parliamentary parties and the urban middle class joined the movement after the royal coup of February 2005. Those were the glorious days when hundreds of thousands of people marched in the cities and towns all over Nepal and the villages sent their beloved daughters and sons to create the Spring Thunder.
After the conclusion of the popular movement with partial success in April 2006, the late comers not only claimed victory but also grabbed opportunities. The urban middle class intellectuals, both who participated in the movement and who stayed away, have been celebrating victory and forwarding their wish list for the encashment of benefits. The workers, mostly from informal sectors have gone back to their work places as without work they can not survive. The poor and landless peasants or the agriculture workers who came to encircle the capital city and district HQs have gone back to their respective villages to work in the field again as an agriculture worker or as a militia or as a political activist or something else. The agitators, who had no shoes on their feet or no proper dresses to cover their bodies, were the driving force of the mass movement. But, they are no more in the picture. They are neither in the cabinet nor in the parliament nor in the august gatherings in the convention halls of the star graded hotels.
Rather than accepting the simple fact that the people are sovereign and letting them decide through the constituent assembly what they want, they are trying to create comfortable space for themselves through parliamentary decrees.
A different lot is staking claim that democracy is their child. The political leaders from the parliamentary ‘mainstream’ have started to clean up their faces by making changes primarily directed towards adjustments within their ruling coalition, which includes the monarchy. Rather than accepting the simple fact that the people are sovereign and letting them decide through the constituent assembly what they want, they are trying to create comfortable space for themselves through parliamentary decrees. They have to concentrate on making arrangements for a period covering from the time they took over the state power to the election of the constituent assembly. Also, they have to create conducive environment for the election.
But, they are behaving, as if, their parliament is immortal and they are one with the mandate to rule forever. They are already in the business of blame-game. They are blaming the Maoists for collecting donations or recruiting people in their army. They are blaming not only other parties within the ruling coalition but also the other factions of their own parties. Perhaps, negative energy is their strength and they are busy generating the same.
By proclaiming ‘supremacy of the parliament’, they are intending to tame the king. In reality, they themselves saved the seat of the monarch.
It is strange when they deliver lectures on parliamentary supremacy. By proclaiming ‘supremacy of the parliament’, they are intending to tame the king. In reality, they themselves saved the seat of the monarch. They are also creating environment to tame the Maoists. For this purpose, they are trying to play the role and exercise the authority of the constituent assembly through their ‘supreme’ parliament. The people on the street were demanding the establishment of a progressive democratic republic of Nepal, whereas they got the restoration of the parliament. The people fought for a long time for fundamental socio-political and economic transformation, whereas they got nothing which could substantially changes power relationships at the grassroots and above.
Although, declaring Nepal a secular state is a change in positive direction, other changes are far less than the expectations of the people. Rather than going through a surgical process to remove the brain tumor, the parliamentary parties opted for simple medication.
Anyway, the parliamentary political forces represent the upper class. Therefore, it is certain that the people should rise once again to address the transformational issues. Hence, another agitation to transform the society and change the power relationship has become imminent. When the people rise, they rise as a tide and break the barriers made out of any material. The parliamentary leaders should understand this simple fact. Not their ‘parliamentary supremacy’, but the people power will decide the future course of Nepal. These parliamentary leaders, the supper Gods of democracy, failed to understand or accept this simple fact.
Another agitation to transform the society and change the power relationship has become imminent. When the people rise, they rise as a tide and break the barriers made out of any material.
There are two major fronts to concentrate on to make changes- the superstructure and grassroots. The supreme sacrifice of thousands of people during the decade starting 1996 was neither for replacing one lot of corrupts with another set of corrupts nor it was for providing opportunity to foreign forces to have a field-day. The same personalities, who looted the country, played with national interests and misused power to its extreme, are holding the state power today. They are a bit different in form than those actors of the royal regime but they are the same in essence in regard to the ruling culture, class and philosophical paradigm. They have already got more than what they were aspiring and clinging to it is what they will try for. Therefore, from now on, talking big and blocking the fundamental changes would be the business of these politicians of the parliamentary school.
The ruling political class will talk loudly about constituent assembly and will put all energy to strengthen the restored parliament to achieve the goal of maintaining the status quo. Moreover, they will try to restore the dissolved local bodies to improve their access to local levels. Basically, maintaining the status quo that they have decreed through the restored parliament is the goal, program and policy of these ‘mainstream’ political forces and their role and behaviors will stay around this goal. Therefore, neither they will change the superstructure fundamentally nor the base. Although, they have curtailed the power of the monarchy to a great extent, it is foolish to believe that the patient never returns back from the ICU.
Basically, maintaining the status quo that they have decreed through the restored parliament is the goal, program and policy of these ‘mainstream’ political forces.
Perhaps, the parliamentary leaders also know this fact. Therefore, in some extreme situation, they may opt for a republic. Still, fundamentally and pragmatically, Nepal will continue to be an upper class Khas state. The talk of restructuring the state could be a ploy to pacify the mass anger and not for really to establish cooperative federalism with national autonomy granted to the extent of right to self-determination including the right of secession, if the people of a particular autonomous region wish so. If the leaders of the seven-party alliance would be committed on restructuring the state, they could have outlined the core components of their proposal in their ‘parliamentary proclamation’. But, they didn’t do.
Now, the constituent assembly has replaced the ‘powerful’ Hindu Gods. It is strange but true that worshipping the constituent assembly has become a regular feature. The royalists, ‘mainstream’ politicians, intellectuals, civil society barons and media heavyweights all are chanting the hymns in praise of the constituent assembly. Why so? It is easier to derail the process from within. There are only a few among the above mentioned groups who may be genuinely interested to go for the real democratic exercise to establish a progressive democratic republican state order.
It is strange but true that worshipping the constituent assembly has become a regular feature. The royalists, ‘mainstream’ politicians, intellectuals, civil society barons and media heavyweights all are chanting the hymns in praise of the constituent assembly. Why so?
Therefore, the so-called national consensus on holding the election of the constituent assembly may not necessarily provide synergy only for forward movement. The situation is fluid and complex and it is natural that the Maoists will maintain their army and even they may expand and strengthen their fighting capacity.
What next then? Probably, the actors of the royal regime will go on hibernation and wait for an opportune moment to bounce back. The masters of the parliamentary stream will try to establish themselves effectively. Although, there could be a honeymoon phase between the parliamentary forces and the Maoists, but that will not last long. Even if there is an interim government participated in by the Maoist that too would be a temporary arrangement. The class contradiction, incompatible ideological paradigms and fundamentally different strategic missions will not allow them to stay together for a long time. Therefore, if the election of the constituent assembly will not be organized immediately, forget about addressing the transformational issues and designing a political system by the parliamentary forces and the Maoists together.
Even if there is an interim government participated in by the Maoist that too would be a temporary arrangement. The class contradiction, incompatible ideological paradigms and fundamentally different strategic missions will not allow them to stay together for a long time.
Most probably, the parliamentary forces may not behave differently in strategic sense than that what they did in the past. They will try to prolong the life of the reinstated parliament and thus, their own government. They will rule in the cities and towns for fairly a long time. The Maoists will rule the villages and remote areas directly and will rule over the cities and towns indirectly, also for fairly a long time. They will stay away from Kathmandu as that will be some sort of insurance against foreign military invasion. Hence, the absolute desire for peace shall not materialize provided that the Maoists do not degenerate or northern India does not come under effective Maoist influence, which shall enable the Maoists in Nepal to capture the central state power or the Maoists are not defeated militarily.
Most likely, the common men and women who are aspiring for peace through the election of the constituent assembly will be frustrated, the merchants of peace will sell even the derailed process to build their own future and the political forces will constantly fight for supremacy till two separate governance systems will remain in practice. Unifying the governance systems will be a strategic goal for both, the Maoists and the parliamentary forces. That goal could be realized through the election of the constituent assembly, which might address the transformational politico-economic and social issues. But, this option is passing through the process of serious derailment. Some of the ministers and the ambassadors of the influential countries have already put the demand forward that the Maoist should renounce violence and lay down their arms before the election of the assembly.
The absolute desire for peace shall not materialize provided that the Maoists do not degenerate or northern India does not come under effective Maoist influence.
This demand is the key to derailment. Alternatively, the goal of unifying the governance systems could be realized by the victory of one ruling side. Therefore, the polarization between the parliamentary forces and the Maoists sounds imminent. Hence, in all probability, the people have to live in a situation of civil war till the unjust upper class Khas rule becomes history.
United We Blog 
Comments
80 responses to “Spring Thunder in Nepal: Glorious but Inconclusive”
“…..The talk of restructuring the state could be a ploy to pacify the mass anger and not for really to establish cooperative federalism with national autonomy granted to the extent of right to self-determination including the right of secession, if the people of a particular autonomous region wish so….”
err this does not make sense to me. how can a state within a nation state have the right to secession?
WOW! This article itsefl is also Glorious bu inconclusive! Thank you so much Govinda Neupane! You sow the seed of opinion. It will certainly grow. Probably that will help, not to go the situation like the way you wrote. Hope NOT!!!
If yes excatly the way you said. Next Glorious and complete story is expected. Let’s say certainly and of course yes.
Slowly and slowly, it is coming to be clear why leaders stop people going to Palace and kick out king. Why they bitrayed people? We see! and still watching.
If constitutional is going to happen why we need to go to side issues like women’s right, secularism, we wiated centuries, can’t we wait just few month. CA will make constitution then why leaders want to show their strength. They alive after once dead. Are they Pichas?!!
Pretty descent artile, I liked the fact that Khas himself realized that Khasism/Bahunism is the root casuse of all social ills of Nepal, but in the meantime I am also aware that such strategies has been used in the past, e.g. by Dor Bahadur Bista, only to fool the non-khas people in pretext of disowning one’s own caste-based class, when in reality the real purpose was only to difuse the possible uprising agaist inter-generational khas discrimination.
OK Mr Neupane. So you aim to create power vaccum so that maoists can sweep in the void.
1.What forward movement are you talking about? destroy the left out bridges and schools hoping?? More kangaroo courts??? More bloodshed????
Obviously polarization is evident when Maoists want to go to election with guns whereas parties have to field activists emptyhanded.
-Is one area of Panchthar representative of whole Nepal? Do u really think that subsistence farming will develop Nepal??
-Zimbabwe’s history is that of white colonialization while ours is of backwardness. Is any comparison reasonable? If you go with the logic that the first one who was present in a land parcel owns it, why not attribute all the land to dinosaurs? Make a factual analysis of land ownership history of nepal, note all the periods of cultivation of forests, n make a conclusion. Are there evidences that Khas appropriated land from the indigenous people??? if yes, lets look at solution such as land reform.
2.The protestors went to street not because they saw salvation in Mr. Prachanda but because they want PEACE. Enough with your maoist war propoganda! For your information, the seven parties were the one who initially declared an agitation. People later joined in as they were sick and tired of this infighting. When the first bomb exploded in ktm, people in jumla were happy coz they felt now ktm feels what they have been living through and coz they thought there would be a solution soon.
3.C’mon election to CA is a declared fact. Dont negate it. its the achievement of Jana Andolan II.Why are you so scared to accept it? What maoists could not do by murder of thousands of people during the last 10 years, people did it in the matter of weeks. Victory to the people and down with autocracies- communist or royalist.
4. Another agitation indispensable?? how many more you plan to k*ill???
“The supreme sacrifice of thousands of people”. oh yes, please. look at the face of the victims’ family and tell them they died for the right cause of communism, the theory the whole world buried a decade ago.
5. Agreed that seven parties are pro establishment. What is the solution? Radical reform or handover of state to Mssrs Prachanda / Baburam. Why cant maoist accomodate a little if not were lust of power???
6. “Still, fundamentally and pragmatically, Nepal will continue to be an upper class Khas state” – Well, in world history we know what Hitler did to jews. Does anyone want the same solution here?
7. Blame Game: Remember that maoists were killing kangresis and emaleys. With such an acerbic history, if there is only blame, be it. Its very positive than filling up bullets in barrels for another war. in a participative democracy, if maoist ever participate, wont they do the same?
8.”it is natural that the Maoists will maintain their army and even they may expand and strengthen their fighting capacity” – okay i got the point. more agitation. more military buildup. and guess what??? no surprise a bigger war.
9. grassroot level democracy was a major achievement of 1990s movement. maoist attacked it first as this was a foot level democracy and the strongest pillar of the democractic society. isnt it a better solution to have all party local government??? why is this not a priority for maoists while not having a local government is? isnt this anarchist? doesnt this fit with maoist philosophy of creating power vaccum to forcefully seize it later on???
10. “It is easier to derail the process from within.”- in this case, isnt it the duty of the revolutionaries to guard against it by coming up strongly with concrete social agendas rather than looking for more bloodier solution??
11.. “Therefore, if the election of the constituent assembly will not be organized immediately, forget about addressing the transformational issues and designing a political system by the parliamentary forces and the Maoists together.”. 100% agree. No comments.
12.”Hence, the absolute desire for peace shall not materialize provided that the Maoists do not degenerate or northern India does not come under effective Maoist influence, which shall enable the Maoists in Nepal to capture the central state power or the Maoists are not defeated militarily.”
-Option 1: maoist degeneration: a parasitic militia who feeds upon poor rural peasants will degenerate sooner or later if the situation persists. we have seen enough of warlords in sudan, congo and all other failed states. remember the maoist cousin FARC.
-Option 2: Maoist Northern India is a daydream. This literally means destroying the modern india. its unlikely given india’s nuclear strength, world stature and the US need to counterbalance chinese influence.
13.”Some of the ministers and the ambassadors of the influential countries have already put the demand forward that the Maoist should renounce violence and lay down their arms before the election of the assembly.”
– This is a nice way to say that even UN supervision is not acceptable. The question is how to trust the maoists when they are still carrying guns? Why not talk about solutions such as merging maoist army with armed police or creating a brigade of nepal army from maoist solders? where is the discussion about reeducating the youth who are in maoist army and how to provide them with job and security?
13. “Alternatively, the goal of unifying the governance systems could be realized by the victory of one ruling side.”
-the author means victory of maoists. so we should welcome another dictatorship.. tell me the name of one country which is communist and which is developed.
14.”Therefore, the polarization between the parliamentary forces and the Maoists sounds imminent.”
-this is tantamount to declaring the discussions a failure even before the second round of discussions start.
-why these intellectuals prachanda/baburam do not realize that they can get a political mileage by making public concessions on maoist side?
-Why dont they realize that complete maoist victory is impossible by bullet whereas its possible by ballot?
-Why cant they stay 2/3 years in opposition camp in parliament if they are serious revolutionaries?
-Why dont these people realize that violence brings more violence and this spiral never ends?
15.”Hence, in all probability, the people have to live in a situation of civil war till the unjust upper class Khas rule becomes history”
– Whao, this seems to be a passage from Mein Kempf. We dont need more hitlers, musollinis, & edi amins.
-Lets hope that we see some leaders with leadership capabilities of Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela in Nepal to bring peace. Lets learn from south africa not from zibmbabwe. Lets not hear things like
Do the constitutional as soon as possible? Present government and parliament has no right to make laws as it is illegal in way but revived by peoples’ power. It must do what it should do and must not do what it should not. Why hanging around.
Santosh Ji, you sound a damn good Blog Bidwan! Try to post shorter comments so that it has higher probability of being read by others.
Thank me, i had the patience to photo read your comments. They are simply bullshit!! Theres hardly any substance in it to counter Neupane ji’s political views. Plz stop being touchy, be realistic.
I agree with Justice and santosh.
The article tends to favour caste based politics.
It tends to create sectional race among people.
It is not good for Nepal. If you really talk about backwardness then Madhesis are there. Their population
is 50% but their representation in govt job is below
10%. But they are not taking weapon. Such problems will
be solved through complete and strong democracy.
Lets say no to castism.No politics on caste. Lets work
for complete democracy.
I completely agree with Santosh. The Maoists are daydreaming to capture all of North India which is the foolish idea. They never can achieve it. Because, if China would have been still a fully “Communist” state, may be it was possible. China has already disowned Maoists of Nepal saying it as only terrorists gang.
But one point I never understood is: Why India is helping Maoists clandestinely ? Without the Indian help, Maoists would not have flourished as such. Is not such an act harmful to India itself ?
Next this guy will be blaming the British for colonising the world,the Americans for their capitalist economics, the Arabs for their oil and don’t forget the Indians.
Brain surgery for a brain tumour? Yeah, but make sure the surgeon is not a quack and the patient survives the operation. Or will the author term it a really ground breaking successful operation, but the patient died anyway.
Zimbabwe is a really bad example to give. The white farmers may have been a minority, but they brought in advanced farming technology and jobs for millions. Now they are kicked out, you have a country heading for collapse with millions going hungry.
Here is another puppet of Maoist. Neupane wants to disintegrate Nepal. But we people will not let.
This is the sort of racist, castist clap trap that only a opportunistic Brahmin could possibly dream of coming up with. This guy is even talking of the right to secession for people who wish it. Yes lets all of us practice this right and I can run my own 4 anna nation.
the germans have a saying:
first it will be different and second as you think
Preserve Nepal as Hindu nation
Mohan Rajan
JG Arora’s touching and superb article, “Preserve Nepal as Hindu nation” (Central Chronicle dated 25 and 26 May, 2006) depicts the demolition of Nepal, the only Hindu country in the world, by a combination of anti-Hindu forces like Maoists, missionaries and Pakistan’s ISI.
It is a pity that when there are scores of Muslim and Christian countries in the world, the only Hindu country in the world has been forced to disown its Hindu identity. It is also a pity that while Maoists were being helped by various anti-India nations, India did not help Nepal’s monarch to defeat the Maoists.
Nepal’s interim government of Seven Party Alliance is very weak and is working as per dictates of Maoists who are heavily armed and are being helped by anti-India nations. If Nepal is allowed to be grabbed by Maoists and missionaries, India too will be grabbed by Maoists, missionaries and Pakistan and Bangladesh’s terrorists and infiltrators.
Since Nepal has all along been a symbol of Hindu religion, Hindu heritage and Hindu ethos, organizations and individuals all over the Hindu world must do their best to preserve Nepal as a Hindu country.
Thuldai, what evidence do you have of the Indian Government helping the Maoists? There are revolutionary groups in India that are possibly helping them such as Indian Maoists, Naxalites, and Islamic Jihadists because they have a common enemy. The Indian government has enough trouble with those groups already and does not want to advance their influence.
All: Land distribution is the most difficult problem to address and there is not enough time to address that while we are at war with the Maoists. Bahun dominance is a problem that must be remedied, but at this time all of us who do not want a Maoist victory must put aside our differences and unit behind our security forces to defeat the Maoists. Adopt a new constitution, yes, throw out corrupt officials, yes, but let’s stop fighting amonst ourselves and defeat the Maoists!
This is not a time to play blame games and look back. This is a time to reconcile and work together for the benefit of the country. Only an anarchist will attempt to divide the nation on old caste grounds. Especially terming urbans as the main culprit, when there is so much breaking up of caste barriers and old hockus pockus notions in cities, it is futile to try and bring this up. When we should be talking of infrastructure building and economic generation in rural areas, this Neupane talks of more divide and rule.
We are a lanlocked nation, and this limits access for us, but this should not limit our imagination. We are too stuck up in the old ways of thinking and always tend to think inside this dark box and have always practice populist econoimics for instant political gratification. It is time to think outside the box and liberalise our economy, this is the only way forward for a lanlocked nation. Talk of secession etc. is not even a short term solution.
Neupane intends to intensify class struggle so that state is re-structured as its outcome. There can be other way round for state structuring, but not as the one, proposed by him. Delineating constituency or state boundary based on caste is very dangerous. Even if one sticks to the issue of proportional representational, there are, tratditionally, more than 100 castes and languages, you can not confine each within a boundary, plus nowhere is the demography so homogeneous. So, the focus should be on the approach of developing more inclusive leadership – meaning, a leader should stand beyond the limits of casteism and serve all equally. If Neupane keeps on promoting the idea of caste based segregation in all spheres of governance, then there is is no chance of building a nation.
Zimbabwe? First you are talking of white colonisers and comparing them to the Khas who are Nepali themselves. Second, kicking out the white farmers has led to an economic collapse and starvation and the rule of a despot at his whim and fancy – a homegrown product called Mugabe.
EDUCATION. Without education, we will get nowhere. Yes infrastructure and economic development is needed, but without education we will be reading more articles by idiots like Neupane who feast on uneducated minds.
Khas is belong to Nepal and whereas white maybe different. Neupaneji, can you elaborate why you are against the Khas?? If Khas become against the bahunism in political and government sector then can you give answer?? Time to unitie not to disperse…
Most of you bloggers are shamefully unaware of how under the Shah kings the favoured communities were given all the fertile lands and the indigenous population pushed too the margins. Kudos to UWB for bringing out a topic that most people (i.e. the favoured people want to ignore).
Bideshi,
I think you arte really a foreigner. Can you give the response to this question ? How the terrorists declared by the Indian Government can sign 12 Point Understanding with Girija, Makune, Sitaula, Jhala Nath, Bamdev, Sujata, Oli,Shekhar, Pradip Giri etc etc. after the discussion with them in the Indian capital itself if they don’t have the tacit support of Indian Government. Is that possible my friend ? If these guys can meet Prachanda and Baburam, can’t CBI and RAW nab them ?
Khas is belong to Nepal and whereas white maybe different in Zimbabe. Neupaneji, can you elaborate why you are against the Khas?? If Khas become against the bahunism in political and government sector then can you give answer?? Time to unitie not to disperse…
fanta-I hope you can get it into your thick skull that Neupaneji is not against the Khas-he is for equality. For some of you guys equality always means being against someone or something. I guess some of you guys just want to be more equal than the others because the status quo benefits you.
Dinesh Ji seems to have become preety bossy after his sponsored visit to the states. He deleted my comments which i think was very much contextual to the topic discussed here. I have decided to switch to insn.org for more meaningful debate. This censorship really sucks!!
Neupane’s article has a lot of ground truth in it. Ground truth that we call reality. Unfortunately, he also has many suppositions and propositions. Some of the thing’s he discusses is absolutely nothing to do with our country and I don’t even know why he draws parallels from them (eg. Zimbabwe).
And although I agree that the “spring thunder” involved many, many people from the villages who ventured into urban areas after days of walking, I don’t know why he does not mention that many of them were forced by the maoists to attend. Nevertheless, his premise is true although his referrels to the janandolan being directly related to social,cultural and historical needs of the participants and not the political needs of the parties and the maoists poses many more questions than answers.
In the old days the way people gained ground was by the sword and not through elections and democratic practices. We did not have governments for, by and of the people but empires, colonies and kingdoms. However, we may have come full circle and again a minority party may be gaining ground through arms and force and not through modern practices.
One hopes that ancient history does not repeat itself where the will of the “tiny minority” does not outweigh the majority, through use of arms.
As for his take on the parliament, I agree and am happy to term it “the tyranny of the majority”.
In an ideal world the best form of government is none at all.
Nepalis are too selfish to embrace communism or even socialism. The haves try and grab more for their own and the have nots try and grab from the haves for their own selfish reasons as well.
Nepotism, favouritism, pulling each other down, looking out for oneself and ones own only, these are our traits – we are far worse in the selfish spectrum than capitalists and we talk of socialism and communism. We have the wrong attitude. The leadership of all the factions are selfish and self serving as well. We have no examples to turn to for leadership and guidance. Even our so called holy men and monks seem to self engrossed these days. It’s all about me, me and mine.
Social service without self glorification and community work is not in our vocabulary. The meaning of neigbours is completely the opposite here. Attitude towards women by our men and even by other women are deregatory. Unfortunately what visitors see on the surface is a far cry from what we are like in private.
A Sherpa may have climed Mt. Everest 16 times but he is still a “bhote” in the deregatory sense and we rather think of Edmund Hillary as a hero and kiss his ass.
A gentlemen who tries whatever little and however ineffectively in the larger picture to clean up the Bagmati by picking up rubbish for an hour or so everyday is looked at in a funny way.
When the entire city is reeling from water shortages, using pumpos to boost supply in one’s home is fine even though it effects the neighbours supply.
These are just the little examples.
We don’t have a chance until our attitude towards each other changes. It’s easy to say we love our country, but what is a country without it’s people – just mud and rocks. Let’s at least try to like, leave alone love each other first.
kp, the comparison with Zimbabwe is to show how certain communities have taken advantage of state patronage (during British times there/during Shah times here) to monopolize on the best assets of their country-and pushed the marginalized communities further to the brink.
Kirat,
Fine, but really it is still a bad example. The history and conditions of how Zimbabwe came into being is very different from ours. And further, the kicking out of these white farmers have proved worse for wear for Zimbabwe, therefore a bad, bad example if you are trying to prove a point to support such exacting actions.
Zimbabwe is a very unique example where a very small minority of the population was controlling most of the farm land – however very efficiently as well. When they were removed and land redistributed among the black farmers, we have inefficiency due to the reversal of positive economies of scale, more animosity, food shortage and a iron dictatorship.
kp, Agree with you on the example being a bad one. Mugabe was just trying to be a populist and screwed the whole thing up because it was so badly thought out.
Give a white man a sickle he turns it into a tractor, give a black man a sickle he uses it to scratch his ass.
to make generalizations is bad…but then it does give some indications..
Talking about the dacoits in the recent bank robbery…the background of one is that of a had-been maoist and the other’s is that of a runaway police….are there many more like them in the respective forces that are fighting for peace? hmmm……
give a Nep. a sickle and he will let it rot in the backyard……
give a Nep. a sickle and he will use it to cut the bakhra’s poochchar…
In the bank robbery case, I suspect that there is a high link in the police who is inciting people and has nexus with these gangs.
Thuldai,
You are speaking like Mr. SITAULA. If Mr. Sitaula although appointed and transferred all his relatives in Kathmandu and cannot handle the police then he should leave the job…that is the only solution…
28 anarchy06 says:
“When the entire city is reeling from water shortages, using pumpos to boost supply in one’s home is fine even though it effects the neighbours supply.”
And if its overflooding on the roof, the house owner is proud that he can afford
When I told the neigbour not to dump all his garbage in the nearby canal, he is an educated laure, he just ignored me.
When I told our medical that foreigners wouldn’t visit him if he wouldn’t clean the courtyard , he told me that there is no use, the cleaner he keeps it, the mor garbage his neigbours will dump there.
seems like UWB is a pro maoist forum. this kirat who i thought to be a knowledgeable guy is actually being subservient to a maoist theocrat – neupaneji. man, i read a lot of your comments and thought of you as someone educated and with human sentiments.
dont you see this neupaney guy sees war as the fatality and the only solution. killing other people to alleviate historical inequality is not called creating equality: its called crime against humanity. there are better solutions through land reform and/or distribution.
95.1MHz,
in communism, people are indoctrinated to follow the voice of their leader. see the photos of prachanda positioned exactly like the ones of stalin.
i vehemently disagree with neupane, not because his analysis is incorrect, but because his conclusion is justification of further war.
thanks for your comment however.
santosh, aren’t you jumping the gun a bit? My point is that there is inequality in the distribution of land – state patronage has played a big part in this.
By the way I never said I agreed to everything that Neupane said. I just agree to the inequality in land distribution part that needs to be addressed. This Neupane is obviously a Maoist sympathizer-I did not even bother to read the entire article (apologies). But being a Maoists doesn’t mean that he is devoid of any valid points.
kirat,
my apologies for being personal.
you are right to say that state patronage was a factor in inequal land distribution. during rana regime, ranas gave freehand to their henchmen to clear forest land for cultivation purposes. beyond that we need to have factual analysis of what happened in nepalese history, which unfortunately we dont have as our history is on sided and incompletely studied.
this neupane guy has a point. what he says is relevant. i disagree only with his conclusion that you should have a final struggle (with guns) to find a solution.we should avoid a hutu tutsi solution. remember that even their problem was the one of historical oppression of a caste: race and they opted for an easy solution. that was genocide.
ok neupane.. let’s start killing these khas people and make nepal devoid of these people.. they have enough of our blood… let’s start the ethnic war.. i will raise my gun, and i will start with you.. are you ready to die in the name of cleansing of khas?
Santosh, No one wants a Rwanda here in Nepal. I said many times before that the Maoists are playing with fire forming and encouraging units like the Tamang National Liberation Front, Tharu LF, Magar NLF, Khumbu LF etc. But on the other hand the wrong thing to do is to pretend everything is ok and that we won’t ever have an ethnic conflict here too. Complacency would be dangerous. That is why I support the declaration of Nepal as a secular state. A lot of reform is needed in Nepal-land reform being one of the major issues.
“There is inequality in the distribution of land ” it can be agreed so some level. There are lots of Jamindars out there. But there are lots of people who have worked very very hard so earn some extra money so that they can use it for furure. Most of Nepalese invest those money in land and buildings. By just saying there should be equal distribution of land and giving those land to the labourer who just works in those land and get wage, it will totally be a heartbreak and mean decision to the land owner who has worked hard to arranged some properties for themselves.
whole ethic problem was created by gurkha king. after winning nepal, his hencemen the shaha, rana, thakuri and few bahuns looted the country. they looted land from indegious people and divided the looted properties among them. the looting continued for centuries. actually they looted for 237 years.
now we must stop it. we must stop looting.
Land reform is probably unsolvable to be perfectly frank. I cannot imagine even how to begin.
ok!
I thought this was funny and pretty Ironic,
This is Prachanda’s father talking about Prachanda after meeting him in 7 years,
Source: Himalayan times.
“We talked about our health conditions. He was thin before, but he has become fat nowadays.”
Pushpa Kamal’s baptised name was Chhabilal,”
CHABBI LAL REEE……GET IT?, funnny no?
Mr.fanta,
Don’t undermine Sitaula. HE IS THE SMARTEST Minister I have seen in years.He will do something just wait and see.
Only his weakness is Oli, IGP of AFP.But I think he will deliver at last.