There is not a single mass based Nepali organization in America. That is the sad truth. The ANA Convention gets touted as the biggest gathering of Nepalis outside of Nepal. I don't know how true that is because the Nepali mass rallies in Delhi get tens of thousands of people, but it might be the biggest outside of Nepal and India. But even at the ANA Convention you show up like at some club. You pay your $25 and you go in.
There is too much elitism going on. The mainstream Nepali organizations have done a very good job of acting like the blue collar Nepalis pretty much do not exist, whereas they are the majority. The vast majority.
Recently I wrote up a proposal for the Association Of The Nepali Terain In America, ANTA: Reform ANTA. The message might be relevant to the Nepali organizations across the board. One of the goals of Hamro Nepal, the "world's first digital democracy organization" is the political empowerment of the Nepali diaspora. The 100,000 Nepalis in America should be able to vote in America.
I thought we were working to pass a resolution to that effect at the ANA convention, but later I got told, no, the idea was for the 100,000 Nepalis in America to be able to vote in Nepal. This is classic Nepali diaspora internalization and withdrawal. You compare yourself to the Nepalis in Nepal, not to the people in your immediate surroundings, those in America. The disenfranchisement gets rationalized away. Blacks earned it half a century ago. Nepalis are lagging behind.
Just look at the Nepalese Americas Council.
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Open Voting
The concept of open voting is that you can not assemble all potential voters in one physical setting at one particular time, and so you let them vote any way they can, over email, over the phone, and you make sure the process stays clean by posting on your website as to who voted for whom. You call people up, you email them, and you ask them to vote.
Before the 100,000 Nepalis can hope to vote in America, they are going to have to first start voting within Nepali organizations. And you don't just vote once a year for the office holders. You also vote in between to make decisions.
Free Membership
I think this idea will go a long way in helping the various Nepali organizations become mass based. If not free, membership fees should be nominal. You can always host fundraisers among the more well to do.
Transparent
It is so easy to put stuff online, and so cheap, virtually free. All members should be listed online. The minutes should be posted online. All book keeping should be kept online so members can see how money gets raised and spent, and there is ensured accountability.
National
As many organizations as possible should strive to go national. As to how, I have made some suggestions in the Reform ANTA document.
The basic suggestion is that all of the 100,000 Nepalis should get organized. They should be members of one organization or another. It does not matter which organization you join, as long as you join at least one organization.
Of the 100,000 Nepalis, I am guessing less than 2,000 are members of at least one organization. There is a lot of room for new organizations to grow. There is a lot of room for new organizations to get launched.
Right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental human right. It is like free speech. You don't need anyone's permission before you can speak free. And so it is okay to launch new organizations.
Umbrella Organization
There might even be a need for another umbrella organization. An organization will have to go through all these reforms before they can become a member. The president and central officers have to be directly elected by the general membership through open voting. The organization has to be mass based with at least a hundred listed members. All members should be listed online. There has to be transparency to debates, decisions and money matters.
Each member organization should be able to say how many members it has. That would be the weight of that organization within the umbrella organization. All organizations are not equal.
Annual Convention In New York
I have seen this with Indians. They don't have just one convention. I think by now the Nepali population is big enough that New York City needs its own annual convention. Of the 100,000 Nepalis close to one third are in New York City. And even among the rest, most live in the Boston-DC corridor. And New York City is in the center.
What could it be like? It would be in Queens. It would be as cheap as possible for those who attend. It would be festive and mass based and informal.
Nepali Convention.
