Bandhs, Political Theater, and the CA's Extention

Over the last few weeks life in Nepal has been about one word really- Bandh. While it's easy to understand why people would want to call a general strike to bring attention to their cause, such strikes only make sense to me if they are done in solidarity with the population at large, and not forced on them via thugs with sticks. Despite this, half of last week was marred by strikes that half shut down the city and getting anything done has been a bit of a hassle. The strikes have been called for everything from the want of ethnic federal states (what a terrible idea) , to people wanting to bring attention to the fact that the constitution is still not done, despite yesterdays deadline for the constituent assembly (CA).

So Saturday at midnight the constituent assembly was set to expire, and there was really little doubt that there would be an extension, though some other options had been floated. Some said that the Maoist hardliners would take up arms and go back to the hills, more reasonable voices called for the disbandment of the body and adhering to actual democratic principles calling for fresh elections. In true political theatre the politicians announced at 4AM Sunday that  they had reached a deal to extend the CA for another three months. The 5 point deal signed by all three major parties is as follows;

Nepal's Facebook Revolution?

In Greek mythology there is a recurring theme of the young rising up and overthrowing the old order. The mythology is based on what was in the past the natural order of things, where one generation rose up and challenged the generation before them. There comes a point when the younger generation see the entrenched powers before them not as something paving their way to prosperity but instead as a barrier to it. It is often said in half jest that my country is in fact a geritocracy, where the old rule over the young. A look at the eyebrows of most of our senators bears this out. While there is certainly wisdom that comes with age, their is also vitality and fresh insight that comes with youth. When one side of this feels completely shut out of the system, then discontent begins brewing and left long enough it is only a matter of time before the young rise up against the old.

Recently the uprisings across the Middle East serve as an example to this. Not that it is strictly seen in this light, in many places it is people of all ages supporting the Arab Spring revolts, but look at who is organizing it, and how it is being implemented, it's almost always the youth. Tools such as Facebook and Twitter, along with the support of hacker groups like Anonymous are working to bring people together, get information out and transform the structure of society...maybe. In Nepal recently this same phenomenon is starting to take root, as the country inches closer and closer toward the status of a failed state.

And the Bandh Played On

One of the only concessions that Nepal was able to seemingly get for Nepal tourism year 2011 that was worth a damn was the fact that the political parties agreed to no bandhs (something like a general strike) to disrupt daily life and more importantly the tourist industry. After the Maoists disastrous open ended bandh last May the country had mostly shaken the habit and one could almost forget how often Nepal is bothered by this somewhat absurd practice. Then a few weeks ago the groups that want ethnic federalism to be a cornerstone of the constitution took it upon themselves to enforce the first bandh of the year that actually affected Kathmandu (the Terrai has been on fire, and bandhs and bombings have been more common down that way).

This last Friday was the second effective bandh in just a few weeks, and this time it stirred up some opposition, and people marched, rode bikes and motorcycles in defiance. Part of the problem is that to most workers it's just an extra holiday, as their employers still have to pay them despite everything being forced to shut down. This is also the reason that such bandhs very often fall on one side or the other of a Saturday, making long weekends for people, and they are often enforced by people shipped in from villages that have nothing better to do. One gets the sense though that people in Kathmandu at least are getting quite tired of this foolishness, and there is a general sigh any time a bandh is mentioned.

Word I got through some UN staffers is that next weekend there is a three day bandh planned, which would be by far the biggest yet, and I'm thinking that this will not go over that well with the population here. Any group that thinks they are going to gain sympathy for their cause by implementing this is severely misreading am already disgruntled public that is only putting up with a failed political process because they don't really know what else to do. Making life more difficult by enforcing a general strike is like kicking a hornets nest, and they've already prodded it a few times- the bees are getting angry.

That said, if the city is going to be shut down next weekend and I can't sell stuff at the markets, it might not be a bad excuse to make my way over to Pokahara with Kim and chill out at Lakeside. I've only been out that way once since I've been here (almost exactly a year ago) and Kim hasn't been back there since we arrived. We all know that if you're going to have to spend a few days with things shut down, it's better to spend it where you can enjoy some views of the Annapurnas and relax than to spend it stuffed up in Kathmandu.

Spring Storms & Unstable Politics

The rains seem to have come a little early this year, as the last few weeks have seen rather consistent thunder storms moving into the valley and quite a few torrential down pours. This time last year the weather was exceedingly dry and hot, and the city was shut down due to a Maoist enforced  bandha (or strike) which shut down the city for nearly a week. The indefinite strike was supposed to put pressure on the political parties to bend toward the Maoists in the coming deadline for the constitution to be written by the end of the month. The strike failed miserably, and the popular uprising that came up against the enforced strike was a major setback to the Maoists.

By the end of that month there was no constitution and the constituent assembly (CA), extended their term for another year to finish the constitution. Another year has now passed, and the constitution is no closer to being completed. What happens when the CAs term comes up again on the 28th of the month?  Most likely they will extend their term again, despite some calls for the dissolution of the body in favor of fresh elections to put people in place who might actually do their job. Although the chances of even that happening in a system where power is so tightly held by political parties and not so much by people who feel they are there to actually represent their constituents interests are slim. This is a problem it seems in parliamentary and democratic systems around the world at the moment, including my country.

Still aside from some saber rattling by a portion of the more revolutionary elements of the Maoist party declaring that they would return to war if the CA expired with no progress, recent statements from the Maoists top man Dahal about working toward a conclusion of the peace process seems to indicate that the Maoists are also ready to settle in for the status quo where nothing gets done and nothing happens in Nepal. While paper's today celebrated the Maoist adoption of peace and the political process as the official line of the party, the average Nepali really has little reason to rejoice. As long as there is no political progress the countries problems continue to deepen as basic things are just not getting any attention. Petrol continues to be scarce and Nepal Oil Company (NOC) still has not paid its bills, a complete lack of sufficient electricity is devastating to any development of the country’s industrial and economic base, and basic infrastructure continues to crumble while nothing gets done in the high halls of political office.

Even though I have doubts as to India ever becoming a true super power, there is no doubt that the country has seen an infusion of vitality and economic growth in the last decade, despite its proximity and ties to the Indian Economy, Nepal remains in the doldrums with progress  not really being measurable and no discernible momentum. To compound problems many of its brightest sons and even large portions of its labor base have left, with the former group finding employment through the first world and the latter finding exploitation and occasionally good money in the Gulf states, Malaysia, India, and North Africa. In fact this migration of brain power and labor has spawned what seem to be some of the only fast growing industries in Nepal which is man power firms that negotiate overseas employment and numerous education and scholastic placement companies that assist in getting students into universities outside the country. While this is bound to happen anywhere to some extent, one only has to look at the passport lines by the west palace wall to see how much of a problem the mentality of wanting to escape Nepal has become.

Witnessing the counter protest that took place last year in response to the Maoists authoritarian strikes, one has to wonder where that energy has gone, and why there isn’t more outrage to change the system. That same energy that declared in one loud voice that the people of Nepal wanted to be left alone to live their lives in peace needs to be brought to bear against a political situation that is increasingly becoming untenable. Nepal is suffering like a house that has been long neglected by its owners who can’t bother do basic upkeep, with things failing to work due to a continuation of no simple maintenance. How long can a political class rob its own country before the people demand that the status quo isn’t good enough? Or like an abused animal, has Nepal been beaten so often by its rulers that it is content so long as it just doesn’t evoke the ire of its masters? Have promises been broken so often and so many times that people have lost any expectations of something better? At what point is enough, enough?

The rains came a little early this year. The clouds build and grow dark in the south rising up on the slopes of the Himalaya. Sometimes they build and in spectacular fashion they break open with lightning slitting the sky and rain falling in torrents upon everything in the valley. Other times they dissipate under a bright sun which holds them back, and we get only a light rain shower, just enough to cool the air, and reduce the dust. One wonders what Nepal’s growing sense of political futility will develop into, will the people’s discontent eventually break open like a Spring storm , or will it just dissipate under a hot sun giving way to further unbearable conditions?

The Fictions Which Bind Us

There are, in our lives, far too many things which seem to me arbitrary and slightly absurd that we have all seemed to agree upon to be true. We have created in our minds this vast game of make believe, and it all seems true because we all play along. In fact to make the statement that many of these things are but figments of our imagination will bring howls of descent from the greater portion of the population, but on close observation it is quite clear that they exist in no true form. Two of the biggest fictions are the existence of countries and governments (the subject of this post) followed closely by our financial systems (possibly the topic of a future post).

It should be clear, on any reasonable inspection that countries don't exist in anything more than a loose reference to a geographical area and the people who occupy it. The lines that divide it from other countries are arbitrary mythology. For instance there is nothing more Chinese about one side of Mt. Everest or Nepali about the other. There is nothing American about one side of the Rio Grande, and Mexican about the other. These lines exist only in our minds, and they can be enforced because people with guns are convinced they're real. Increasingly I'm starting to think that this is an outdated bunch of garbage that humanity would do better without. For what purpose does these lines serve, aside from dividing us? One answer may be the appropriation of resources through our governments with a sense of shared values.

If our history has shown us anything it is that our concepts of government have brought forth more suffering and disaster than any fiction with which we cling to. There are many definitions of government one could use, but the one I like is as follows;

Government: (Noun) A fictional entity used to describe a group of people who have been granted, by consent of the population, a monopoly on the use of force in a specific geographic area.

Looking Back at America From a Distance

After being away from my country of birth for some time you start to get a different perspective on it. While things are not all sunshine and lollipops in Nepal (as many of my posts have detailed) there is a certain amount of insanity that seems to emanate from the United  States. Not so much from our population at large which is made up of some of the more honest and hard working people on the planet (and I'm proud to count myself amongst them)  but from our government which can't seem to help grandstanding stupidity. Now it's no secret that I've always been a bit of a anti-authoritarian, my senior high school yearbook quote is from Rage Against the Machine crapping on the school system, but the recent rhetoric coming out of America is mind numbingly dumb.

The Budget Debate is Absurd

Sticking Our Noses Where We Shouldn't

As an expat living in a foreign country it's always difficult to discuss politics and culture, because in the end it isn't your culture and it isn't your government, and nobody likes criticism from some outsider. That's true anywhere. While I certainly have my opinions and am happy to share my thoughts on certain topics, I have always advocated that Nepali politics should be decided by Nepali people, though this is rarely actually the case. Nepal has the unfortunate geographical location of being sandwiched between two of Asia's growing super powers, India and China and there is an undue amount of influence in their policies exerted by both these countries. It should also come as no surprise that European and American powers are also much more involved in shaping Nepali decision making than they should be.

Recent cables released by wiki-leaks shows that the United States has actively sought to destabilize the peace process and keep the Maoists out of power, working in conjunction with the interests of the Indian Government. While the original article I read on this can be read here, the fact that it comes from a pro-left wing website immediately makes you aware of a bias, and their treatment of the Maoist position is fanciful. In all fairness to the U.S. ambassador his instincts were for all intents and purposes correct, and the idea pushed in this article that the Maoists have been peacefully pushing for a revolutionary "people's" constitution is a load of rubbish. Anyone with any common sense can see that the Maoists have used the last few years to shift their war into politics and out of the jungle, their intent is still largely the same and if it's up to them they would rather not share power. The "peace process" here, as it is in most places, is just another way to fight a war.

The problem with the action the Americans are taking, regardless of the fact that they are most likely correct, is that people don't appreciate you screwing with their governments and denying them their own freedom of choice, no matter how terrible those choices might be. Allowing the Maoists to gain a hold over the entire country would be catastrophic in my opinion for Nepal, but I'm not Nepali, and whether they come to power or not is not, and should not be my choice or the choice of my country. It might be my duty to point out to my Nepali friends why many of their policies would be terrible for Nepal, why their history shows that they would most likely censor speech and press, why their economic policies and energy policies would further run Nepal into the ground and make it even further dependent on imported energy sources, and I could point out how communist run countries all over Asia have suffered horribly for their choices to support such governments, but what I should not do is decide this for them, nor should my government be urging the use of force to silence other's ideas. If the Nepali people choose the Maoists, that's up to them, not us.

It's safe to say that if we were to see the diplomatic cables of India, China, the UK, and some European countries we would see much of the same behind the scenes manipulation. Everyone has their nose in everyone else's business. This isn't to excuse the American actions but just to make it clear that this is indeed the way the game is played. The unintended consequences though for our own country is resentment from the people whom we are trying to help. Because when people see that kind of "help" no matter how well intentioned it just isn't appreciated and gives us a bad name and tarnishes our reputation and any integrity that we hold to the ideals and principles that our country was founded on.

The Revolution Doesn't End When Figureheads Come Down

There was a good article in Republica today about some Maoist leaders catching hell from supporters who had lost family members during the struggle of the insurgency (Maoist Leaders Speechless Before Martyr's Kin). Now I'm not sympathetic to the Maoist cause, but I am sympathetic to people who fought for what they thought would be a better world and had their trust betrayed by people who used their sacrifices to attain power and then discarded them. Politics in Nepal is not a game of appeasing the electorate, as next to no tax base comes from the people, it's a game of appeasing foreign interests and aid agencies that funnel tremendous amounts of money through various state and just as often non-state but politically connected entities. The result has been that it is very lucrative to maintain the status quo, of not making any political progress and certainly no social progress, or none at a meaningful level beyond what can be advertised as feel good programs for the various concerned entities.

Cynicism aside there are many people, and to some extent even foreign governments, acting with the best of intentions here, but the consequences of their presence and the general lack of any sense of civic virtue among Nepali politicos has created the political doldrums that Nepal now finds itself in. Public apathy, a political sector where corruption is not the exception but the rule, and a government machine that is not dependent on its citizens for funding has created a Nepal very different than the ones most had envisioned when the king was ousted in the mass protests of 2006. One where the words "load shedding" are used to cover up the fact that the government has mandated blackouts for most of the day in the dry season and waking hours with power are rare. It's a Nepal where politicians who achieve high office can't list a single thing they've done for their country, only rattle off ways in which they manipulated internal power struggles to achieve their new position. The revolution, by the real people of Nepal, not just the Maoists, lost its fire after the King a figurehead of the country came down, but then it was back to the usual. It's a lesson that the revolution isn't about just removing the figurehead, you've got to clean house and adjust policy to reality.

Nepal Names a New Prime Minister

After a little more than seven months Nepal will once again have a government. With more than 17 unsuccessful attempts to elect a prime minister, yesterday CPN-UML (communist party of Nepal- United Marxist Leninist) member Jhalanath Khanal was finally elected after he gained support from the Maoists who withdrew their candidate at the last minute, in what seems to be very clearly a political move despite commentary to the contrary. The vote seems to have caught the Nepali congress party a bit by surprise, and this morning the Sushil Koirala was quoted as saying that they will not join the government in will sit in opposition.

What does all this mean for Nepal? Probably not too much. The Maoists will again be part of the government, which is some reason for concern, but as recent events have shown most people within the constituent assembly have no intention of getting anything done, and as it took over seven months just to form a government, there is little chance that there will be anything close to a constitution formed by the deadline that is coming up in May. A large part of the problem is that the people that are within the assembly have political power and aside from a decent legal salary, there is no doubt that many also get plenty of money that is siphoned in by both legal and not so legal means. When the constitution is actually formed half of the people currently in the CA would be out of a job as the normal parliament is about half the size. Not exactly a great incentive.

Mr. Khanal also doesn't appear to be someone to get too excited about. Although he was part of the pro democracy rallies in both 1990 and again in 2006, his actual accomplishments in parliament have been scarce, at least scarce enough to avoid any searches through Google, and various Nepali news sites. His demeanor in a recent interview that was posted today shows that he stands to be more of the same typical politician here. The last question being the most telling, typical denial in the face of a question and just pushing it aside instead of actually answering what seem to be concerns that are well founded by looking through past archives. His most recent claim to fame was being slapped in the face by a disillusioned constituent while giving a speech.  When asked about the incident afterwards he was quoted as saying, "Gnats and flies make no effect."

The guy that slapped him, Devi Prasad Regmi, was quoted as saying, "When I saw Khanal and other leaders, I could not help but slap him, for these are the people who are responsible for ruining the country." The sentiment is shared by many Nepali people, and one wonders how long they will put up with the status quo before there is mass public outcry. When one watches the protests going on through the Middle East and North Africa at the moment you are reminded in some ways of what happened here in 2006. There is the temptation when a tyrant steps down for the population to think that their work is done. Nepal should stand as a reminder that the public must continue to hold politicians feet to the fire or else all they worked for will be done in vain, and those who pretend to lead the country after the worst elements are purged can be just as useless or cruel. 


All this negativity aside we can hope that Nepal does begin to move forward, but my thought is that unless the people of Nepal declare that they won't accept the status quo any longer, it will continue to go on as it has.

Wanting to Write Something Positive

The more settled I get in Nepal the harder it is for me to find things to write about it, as nothing seems all that different to me. So just like back home, conversation and thought about the country turns to the events and politics that the country engages in. In this area it is quite difficult to say anything positive about Nepal, and so I have put off writing about it. For instance I really wanted to write something about Nepal Tourism Year 2011, but as I started writing about it, I found that the entire piece was cynical and disparaging. Indeed it is hard to look at what has been done for this and come up with a single good thing to say, and what makes it worse is that the general population seems to have high expectations of it.

Sure people should come to Nepal, it's a great destination, it has the best trekking on the planet, it's temples, people and culture are something that can be spellbinding, and places like Chitwan offer some of the best jungle safari's in the world. For all these reasons and more people should come to Nepal, and more tourists could certainly help the economy here, but that really isn't the issue. The issue is that Nepal declared 2011 tourism year, and then proceeded to create no new incentives to come here, did not reduce the archaic paperwork or ease the terrible visa process, they actually upped the fees for tourists at places like Bhaktapur and infrastructure throughout the country continues to get worse instead of better. There were no new trekking routes opened, no permit requirements eased on some of the more interesting trails, etc. At the airport the visa lines are still terribly long, but there is a nice shiny newly painted gate as you leave the airport that declares "Welcome to Nepal". Sigh.

The Danger of the "People's" Revolution

Spending all of your time in Kathmandu it is easy to forget that the rest of Nepal is very different, and what seems normal here is not what the typical Nepali considers typical. It is this bubble that kept the middle and business class as well as the politicians at large from understanding the real threat that the maoists poised back in the late 90's and why even after the slaying of the King and the up tick in the violence of the civil war in the early part of this decade that to many in Kathmandu the moaists were an enigmatic group. When I first arrived here I had to put up with many of their so called bandhs, political strikes enforced by thugs on the streets that bring all commerce and transportation to a halt, but those stopped after the spectacular failure that was the May 1st protests. Since then the Maosists have been quiet, and one can easily forget that this is a country where the largest political party are communists who regularly depict mass murders (of their own people I might add) like Stalin and Mao on posters and reference them in speeches. For all of Asia's complaining over colonial oppression  in the past, no western influence has killed more Asians than the communist ideals that well to do Asians brought back with them from studying in Europe.

Today the Maoists are back in the news as they have had a big political get together, and party leaders released several papers defining where the party should be headed. Republica put out an overview of some of the chairmans piece, choosing to focus on his confrontational stance with India (read the article HERE). The ideas that are expressed in the majority of it is no shock to me, but I am slightly taken aback with how honest they are about their goals and implementation. They basically admit to what I've always suspected that the war has never ended and they basically won't stop until there is a communist republic in Nepal. The language is littered with the normal socialist diatribe, using words like proletariat, comrade, cadre, and throwing around the phrase domestic feudalism in every other sentence. One part of the story that stuck out to me was "Dahal was of the view that India will intervene militarily in Nepal when the party launches a people´s revolt to seize state power; so the party should be ready to resist Indian intervention." It's not a matter of "if" but "when" the party launches the "people's" revolt.

The danger these kind of serious revolts cause are clear in history, and it's highlighted for me by my upcoming trip to Cambodia in December. Nepal is in less danger of becoming another Cambodia due to the fact that it is bordered by two very ambitious emerging powers, India and China. What Nepal risks if it falls into a deep civil war is being completely co-opted by one of those powers or becoming the center stage of a proxy war between them. Most people don't seem to realize how tense relations are between China and India, and it was extremely interesting to me that one of the first things to happen when North Korea flirted with starting a war the other day was that India ordered 30,000 troops to its border with China. Both sides of the Nepali government playing these two nations against each other is a very dangerous game and Nepal is in a delicate situation where drastic moves that destabilize the country could very easily lead to a complete loss of sovereignty, let alone the human tole that a drastic revolution like those of Pol Pot and Mao would inflict on the citizenry of this country.

Democracy is the New Tyranny: The American Myth & Failure in Nepal

tyr·an·ny –noun: A government which practices arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

I try to steer clear of my home countries politics most of the time, as this isn't a blog about America, and certainly not about its politics. There is also the fact that the partisan divide has become so great in our country that you stand to alienate half your audience by just taking a stand. Even someone as popular and likable as Oprah saw her television show take a popularity dive as soon as she took a political stand. We have becomes so divisive in America that people of opposing opinions can rarely talk to each other without degenerating to name calling, and most people start with fairly negative opinions of anyone that is on "the other team". All of this over usual complete lack of understanding of the philosophical positions of where the other person is coming from, and the belief that people on the other side are trying to "destroy America". 

For all of the bickering between the left and the right, and all of their insistence that their team is different I just don't see it. After all of the rhetoric of any election Washington keeps on at the same pace, doing the same old stuff. Republicans who apparently believe in cutting spending, fiscal responsibility, and smaller government saw some of the largest spending and government expansion projects under the reign of Regan and both Bush's. Democrats who are supposedly socially liberal and have often opposed foreign war were strangely silent during our involvement in Somalia, Kosovo, Indonesia, and the silence to the escalation in Afganistan and Pakistan is deafening. I won't even get into the fact hat Gitmo remains open, the worst parts of the patriot act were renewed under a democratic super majority or that the recent "health care reform" was basically a big gift to insurance providers and completely disregards the freedom of American citizens to choose products for themselves. After all is said and done, regardless of what our public officials say, the machine of the Federal government keeps right on going. 

Has Government Failed Nepal?

It's always awkward commenting on Nepali politics because as an outsider you really aren't part of the system. So I'll buffet what I'm about to say with the disclaimer that, these are just my opinions and observations. I always stand by the idea that Nepal's politics should in fact be decided by Nepali people and not foreigners, no matter how good the intentions of the intervening nations might be. Also I am the first to admit that my country is politically a complete mess, so I am not trying to suggest that westerners have all the answers. Now with that aside, let's move on.

 Today a quote came out from Maoist chairman Dahal that the failure of the parliamentary system to elect a prime minister amounts to the failure of the parliamentary system as a whole. Now this shouldn't surprise anyone, the Maoists have been clearly working the system for a while to make it look terrible, to cause it to fail. Every time the system stalls and sputters the Maoists can point and claim that this kind of system doesn't work and they can slowly begin to peddle their real goal which is a one party system, where of course they are that party. The Maoists very clearly are still fighting the civil war, it's just changed gears, and the other political parties are too numb to realize it. Every time UML and NC plays for the short term goals of getting the PM seat or any other thing the Maoists can use to divide and make them look like opportunists, they make the system look corrupt and unworkable. In some ways the Maoists don't have to work very hard, because that is essentially the state of Nepali politics as far as I can tell.

UML and NC don't seem to realize just how high the stakes are that they are really playing for, they are always blinded it seems by the next shiny object that lies right in front of them. This is a country without a functioning government, that is in the process of writing a constitution (although that seems to be being avoided at all costs), and is in a very precarious state as the largest party in the constituent assembly were at war with the monarchy and the government of Nepal not all that long ago. The continuation of politics as normal and complete lack of leadership is uninspiring to the public at large to say the least, and dangerous to the precarious state of affairs that Nepal now finds itself in.

When I first came to Nepal, it was only a matter of months after the royal massacre in 2001. At that time it struck me that the county's people were in a terrible predicament, choosing between a corrupt establishment and a ruthless and corrupted ideology in the Maoist alternative. While there is no longer large scale violence in the countryside, the people of Nepal still seem to be faced with that same terrible choice. The constitution process, and the promise of a multi party democracy that works is a farce and just about everyone knows it. The Maoists want this system to fail, and the other parties want things to continue as they have, where government mostly exists as a means to funnel public money into certain people's coffers. So I think it is safe to ask the question whether not only has parliament failed in Nepal, but has the government failed?

At the peace rally back in May many Nepali people I talked to were just sick and tired of all of the political games that were interfering with their lives. "Look, just let us work, run our stores and live our lives." I remember one person summing up her discontent. Isn't that what everyone wants? Just to live their lives and be left alone from these people who assume the role of our "leaders"? Maybe the problem is that of all the options that the Nepali people have been given, the one where they are free of the withering hand of government has not been one of them. Maybe they don't want people trying to enforce some utopian society or maybe they want limits on government that keeps its hand out of their pockets and takes away the power to make arbitrary decisions that allow it to collect so many bribes. This seems to be what I hear from just about every Nepali person I speak with, and yet not one person in politics here seems to be willing to take that angle and lead that charge. The established parties seem to just see the state as spoils that they fight over.

When established parties have so much control over the system it is rarely good for the people of that country, or their freedom. The right to vote is only worth it if the system is able to produce choices that actually represent your beliefs and adhere to the actual rules that government is supposed to be restrained by. The choice between multiple bad answers put out by established powers is not freedom, it's just a dressed up from of tyranny. If no one gives you the choice you really want, maybe it's time to come together and tell them all to go to hell. In one sense maybe the Maoists are right, there should be a people's constitution, but not one written by them for the people, but instead one written by the people to constrain all of them.

Prime Ministers, Toaster Ovens, and Shipping Products from the U.S.

Politics & Prime Ministers
So the Prime Minister of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned five weeks ago. Does Nepal have a new Prime minister yet after three different votes? Nope. Most of it seems like politics as usual in Nepal to me. There was an interesting take on it in an opinion article in Republica today. The article basically makes the case that the coalition that formed to force the Maoists out of power needs to hold or there will be a People's Republic of Nepal. The article struck me as a little alarmist, and though I certainly am not a fan of the Maoists, I don't see any of the other political parties riding to the rescue any time soon. The Maoists actually seem organised and have a plan that they are following through on, to ends that I'm sure will not be good for Nepal. The other parties, instead of offering a real alternative seem to exist mostly to legitimize the government bureaucracy that fleeces the people here of more of their money then it seems to provide in meaningful services and often stands in the way more then helps development in the country. That's my take for what it's worth. The article in Republica by Kanak Mani Dixit can be read HERE if you are interested.


Toaster Ovens
The other day I broke down and got a toaster oven, as I hadn't baked anything in about seven months. Having gone so long, I was immediately quite excited with all the opportunities that opened up. Chicken and eggplant parmigiana? Check. American Style Nachos (full chili and vegies)? Check. Bruschetta? Yes again. To those of you sitting comfortably in the first world none of this sounds like much to you I'm sure. Try going without an oven for half a year and your perspective will change, I promise.


The only problem is that due to some damage at one of the hydro power plants we are back up to eight hours of dreaded load shedding again. They seem to pick the worst times to cut the power too. Today I was about to make some lunch in my new favorite appliance and the power got cut....and didn't come back on for four hours. Sigh. When I plugged the oven into one of my outlets powered by my battery the inverter started beeping, which I took to be a bad sign and quickly unplugged it. They also seem to like to cut the power right around when I make dinner, and although I normally can find the "Power Assassination Schedule" on lline, I haven't seen the latest one, so cooking is a bit of a gamble at the moment.

Celebrating Independence in Tibet

So my computer decided to turn on this afternoon and after moving all important data to an external hard drive I again have access to all my photos from Tibet. There are a lot of things that I want to talk about, and there were some really wonderful places and people I would like to blog about at length, but the first thing I want to address was one of the strangest 4th of July celebrations I have participated in. 

Being American the 4th of July usually means fire works, grilling lots of meat, parades, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and and mixing it all together with lots of family and friends. Somewhere in there we occasionally remember that the holiday is actually Independence Day, celebrating the severing of our ties to the Kingdom of Great Britain an action that lead to the founding of our Republic. Most of the time though that aspect of the holiday is lost on us. We take it for granted. 

There were only three Americans in our group; myself, Kim and our friend Donny. The way that the days fell, Independence Day fell on our first full day in Lhasa. With the thought that we should try and recreate as many of the normal American observances of the holiday we set out looking for things that would allow us to celebrate at our hotel in Tibet. As everything we consume in the U.S. seems to be made in China, it wasn't as tough as one might think. We purchased some American flags at a place that also peddled portraits of Chairman Mao, we found plenty of alcohol, and though Kim and Donny preferred Lhasa beer, there was the option of Budweiser and PBR (I just tossed some cheap local liquor in with my ice tea). At another store we purchased speakers for Kim's laptop so we could listen to music like the sound track to Team America, Jimmy Hendrix playing the star spangled banner, and other patriotic themed music. We ordered plenty of deserts at the hotel and set up all our stuff, fully prepared to be OK with being the obnoxious Americans.

You see what those passports say?

That's right, we're American.

Peace Rally- Maoist General Strike Ends

So less than half an hour ago we got word through the internet that the Maoists have called off the strike. This comes after a day filled with close calls on clashes, and a very large peace rally in Durbar Square aimed at putting pressure on stopping the foolishness that is the bandha called for by the Maoists. 

This morning we attended the peace rally, though we had some difficulty getting there. Maoists had formed a human wall as you got close to where you enter the square from New Road and were preventing people from getting to the rally. Luckily Kim myself and Sami were also accompanied by a girl, Laura and a Nepali friend of hers that is a free lance photographer/journalist. With their credentials the Maoists let us through, the other Nepali people we were with however got turned back. Walking past the Maoists I took a bunch of pictures, above one of them gives me the thumbs up.

Indefinite Strike

So we are now entering day two of an indefinite strike here in Nepal called for by the Maoists. It appears the political parties have not come to an agreement and they will not be meeting the Maoists demands, at least not in the short-term. So what is it like here under the general strike?

Quite pleasant actually. First all the little food vendors I use to get food are still open, and though we have stocked up on supplies for a couple of weeks, it's nice to still be able to get the fresh veggies. The streets are devoid of motor vehicles, and as a person who never drives, except for a rare taxi, it's really nice to walk through the capital without taking in the massive amounts of fumes. Kathmandu is a city made for walking, and the lack of constant honking from passing motor bikes or taxis is quite nice.

May 1 Posters in Kathmandu

Here are some of the posters that are plastered around Kathmandu for the upcoming events. I'll try to keep this from becoming a political rant, and focus on the topic at hand. It's amazing to me that the symbolism that they are using is at all effective. In the first poster below, and I've seen the images elsewhere, we see people like Mao and Stalin with Nepal's communist leader just below them. I would think that comparing yourself and placing yourself near people who murdered millions, MILLIONS, of their own people would not be the ones you would want to compare yourself with. Why not throw Pol Pot up there too? 

Maoists & moral equivalence

I don't normally post other people's thoughts here, in fact tis will be the first post I have not written myself. As a follow up to my last post though and as we close in on what is sure to be an eventful weekend I thought I would post an excellent article that was on Republica Online this morning. The Maoists are expected to have over three hundred thousand people shipped in to Kathmandu for the May 1 demonstrations. Every business owner I have spoken with has faced extortion in the form of "donation" requests. Here is the article by DR THOMAS A MARKS;


As the Maoists continue their relentless drive for power, the response of the state can only be called disappointing. Thugs openly train with khukuris for confrontation (“self-defense”), and the bravery of journalists such as Uma Singh and Tika Bista has been all too quickly forgotten.

More disappointing than the expected lack of state investigatory or judicial progress that one sees in these cases is the growing lassitude upon the part of the Nepali chattering classes as they face their slow motion demise. The media, for instance, seems increasingly incapable or unwilling to report anything beyond the most surface descriptions of events.

MORAL EQUIVALENCE

Particularly destructive is the moral equivalence that has crept into much commentary. The Maoists, too, the logic appears to go, have a version of events.

This is true. It is also true that the Maoist version is normally lies. It would seem basic to good journalism to do the most basic of fact-checking before repeating the banalities of a Prachanda or a Bhattarai.

Reality is that even as cause-oriented groups in Nepal, both international and local, engage in a systematic effort to neuter the state by attacking all remaining institutions of any substance, such as the army, the worst crimes go unexamined. To the cases of Uma and Tika, add innumerable others. The killer of Muktinath Adhikari, principal in Duradanda, struts openly in Kathmandu. The rapists of the young female activist in Kathmandu, who spoke out against the Young Communist League (YCL) and found herself brutally violated with bamboo shafts, saw her assailants released by the police after a call from the Maoist hierarchy.

Reality is that the Maoists, during the conflict, engaged in atrocities which included everything from torture to kidnapping to rape. Worse reality is that they have never stopped.

There are few left to tackle this reality. Throughout the worst violence, human rights organizations did their best to conceal the true picture of Maoist crimes, because they regarded the “old-order” as irrevocably flawed. Any who did not present a view slanted in favor of the Maoists were menaced or even assassinated, leaving construction of “the narrative” to the left.

Perhaps most distressing, a true picture of the sheer level of Maoist criminality never emerged. Yet this is just what has been visited upon Nepal now.


ENOUGH BLAME FOR ALL

Nepal Army’s (NA’s) hands are dirty, too; but it must be remembered that NA did not even enter the conflict in any substantive fashion until the Dang cantonment attack in November 2001. Thereafter, a force which had done little save UN peacekeeping struggled to get on top of the situation. It made substantial progress but allowed too much indiscipline to go on.

This is what the demand for Major Basnet’s trial is all about. To demand an end to impunity has merit. Still, only the UN and the human rights organizations could manage to choose for their “poster person” an innocent officer, yet still howl for his blood as an alleged war criminal!

It is telling that even now the attention that accompanies a reprehensible action such as the NA fatal shooting at Thimure is quite out of proportion to the attention focused upon activities which are sure ultimately to cause the collapse of the state. Still, until recently, one did not see reputable journalists claiming the Maoists are provoked in what they are doing. To the contrary, it is Maoist behavior which has led to other political forces forming their own paramilitaries and to the ever-increasing spiral of violence.

There is a debate here, of course. The Maoists – indeed, the left-wing of the Nepali “chattering classes” – have always claimed that the old-order supported itself with violence. The palace, it was claimed, had Royal Nepal Army; Nepali Congress had Armed Police Force; and “the government” had Nepal Police.

Whatever went on in Nepal, though, was not “predatory.” Repression, in other words – if we want to use that loaded term – was hardly the stuff of Latin American or Iranian dictatorships. In an imperfect world, and only a relative handful of countries being truly in the hands of citizens, Nepal’s old-order was steadily moving toward reform. The Maoist claim that violence was the only way to move Nepal forward is facetious.

REALITY BITES

What is going on now is but a continuation of armed struggle and is driven by the Maoists, using front organizations and YCL. Though the state is constantly held up as plotting, scheming, and thwarting the will of the people, no one else does the sort of things the Maoists do. The rape I mention above was but one incident of a growing list.

And still there are those amongst the “chattering classes” who even now seek to portray the Maoists as “victims.”

This is false. One cannot claim, as did one journalist recently, that “isolated incidents by individuals were not institutional decisions (of the Maoists).” There is too much evidence that falsifies this point.

An institutional decision is exactly what leads to the systematic perversion of justice that is Maoist policy today. Has even a single murderer, kidnapper, or rapist been punished, even with “revolutionary discipline”?

It is the abject failure of the myriad human rights organizations abounding in Nepal today to pursue leads far more obvious than innocent NA Majors that cause me to hold them up to approbation (along with certain EU Embassies that enable them). They demand only trials of NA – while paying lip-service to demands that the Maoists also be held accountable – even as, in the present situation, there is but a thin line of security forces that keep Nepal from sliding into complete anarchy.

Tear it apart, without a simultaneous dismantling of the paramilitaries, and the only result must inevitably be Indian intervention. For New Delhi can no more allow a criminal state to its north than it can allow a state run by ideological goons.

Perhaps there is a bottom line: How many stories of assault, rape, and even murder must accumulate before the Nepali press takes its head out of its collective backside and writes about what is going on?

Why have I been able to collect, in excruciating detail, dozens of such stories (of hundreds or even thousands), when I must work through translators and all the cumbersome apparatus of a foreigner? Has there been even a single recent, substantive article on something as obvious as the level of Maoist extortion?

What does the Nepali “chattering class” do with itself in the 24 hours of the day? “Stay alive,” I suppose, is a viable answer. But at least, then, one should have the dignity not to write and say nonsense which gives criminals a free ride.


This Was originally published in Republica Online and can be read HERE.

May: A Month of Potential Chaos

So the Nepali constitution is supposed to be finished by May 28. From all reports in the papers there is no chance that this is going to happen. As one can imagine this has set off a lot of political posturing and flexing, especially among the CPN (Maoist). It seems hard to gage just how much of this is for show, and how much of it is a real threat to peace in this country. The CPN seems like it is not interested in any kind of compromise, and at the same time, there isn't a snow balls chance in hell that the powers that be would let them control the country. Currently India has been significantly bothered by their own communist uprising, and the idea that they would stand idly by while Nepal became a one party country under the hammer and sickle just seems remote. On top of this other powers in the world aren't real positive on a potentially destabilized communist country popping up in Asia. There are a lot winds blowing against the Maoists.