Friday, September 23, 2005

What's Going On In Nepal


Nepal has 27 million people, so you should think of it as California. It is big. It is the second poorest country on the planet with much of the wealth concentrated in the capital city Kathmandu. It has the gorgeous Himalayas in the north, but more than half its people live in the southern plains of the Terai. I am from the south. I went to school in Kathmandu though, a few years junior to the prince who massacred most of his family in 2001, and classmate to the current prince.

Nepal had a democratically elected government in 1959. In 1960 the current king's father brushed it aside in a military coup promising to restore democracy in six years. It was not until 1990 that the people were able to earn back democracy through a mass movement.

In 1996 the Maoists started their insurgency. It grew over the years, and grew even more after the Shakespearean palace massacre of 2001, and several rounds of peace talks, each of which failed because the government refused to come around to the Maoist middle ground demand of a roundtable conference, interim government and a Constituent Assembly. Mind you, it is a Constituent Assembly that the US brought forth in Iraq.

The current king is the middle brother. The oldest and the youngest died in the massacre.

Democratic prime minister Deuba dissolved the parliament in 2002. But he was not able to hold elections within six months as required by the constitution because the Maoist insurgency was too strong in most parts of the country. The king dismissed him using emergency powers. After that he appointed a succession of prime ministers. On February 1, 2005, he went overboard. He totally took over. Ever since the Deuba dismissal, the royal palace and the army budgets have been increased like crazy. Nepal has one of the worst human rights records on the planet, bad enough that some in the ruling clique might as well end up at the Hague.

As of now, this is a triangular conflict: the Monarchists, the Maoists and the democrats.

On 2/1, the king proclaimed he will rule for three years, that he will hold municipal elections within a year, and parliamentary elections within three. And once the country has a parliament, democracy will be back on track. He has interpreted the emergency articles in the 1990 constitution to basically revive his father's brand of autocracy and people, but has refused to use the same to revive the 1999 House that got dismissed early and unwisely by Deuba. The Supreme Court is now looking into the issue, but whether or not it will revive the House is anyone's guess.

The Deputy Prime Minister who got deposed and arrested on 2/1 was recently in New York City and I got to show him around. I also have been in direct contact with many leaders in the democratic camp. Recently I received an email from Madhav Nepal who leads the largest party in Nepal and might as well emerge the commander of the movement.

The Maoists launched their insurgency with the goal of establishing a communist republic. But now they claim their goal is a Democratic Republic, like in America or India, democracy but no king. Curiously the parliamentarty democratic parties have also gone impatient on the king and have turned republican.

Only a few weeks back the Maoists declared a unilateral ceasefire and totally threw the regime off balance. The king had to cancel his trip to Europe and America after that. But the king and his coterie have not reciprocated. I think that shows they need a low intensity insurgency to continue in power.

My efforts are geared towards leaving the king a respectful opening with a limited time frame, and if he does not come around to it, to forge a strong alliance of the Maoists and the democrats to herald a democratic republic into the country. More important, I have also proposed a constitution that might establish a real cutting edge democracy in Nepal. One that is as classless as it gets. A total, transparent democracy. It is the same concept that I have been trying to apply to Democracy For America. So in a way, Nepal is also a human laboratory for the American progressives.

My emphasis has been to realize there is no military solution to the insurgency and to engage the Maoists in a respectful dialogue, something no Nepali government has done to date, and instead they blame the Maoists for the breakdowns in the prior peace talks. I have gone so far as to synthesize their emphasis on classlessness and the democrats' need for a peaceful, multi-party democracy. There are some very smart people in the Maoist leadership, and I do feel they are capable of reason. I mean, I am for an interim government and a Constituent Assembly with or without the Maoists. So of course I think the country should come around to their just demands.

I expect this winter to really heat up. I expect there to be a major mass movement for democracy in the country. And I would like to extend all moral and logistical support I can. But so far my fellow democrats have not even come up with a political program or a leader. They are working on it. I think once there is a clear, concise political program of the seven democratic parties, hundreds of thousands of people will flow into the streets.

I have explained how turning Nepal into the Ukraine for 2005 is key for DFA. I need your help. I need us to tap on the existing nationwide DFA network in all 50 states to call up as many people on Capitol Hill as possible to extend moral support to the movement for democracy in Nepal. Nepal has to emerge on our MeetUp/LinkUp agenda nationwide. Help!

CIA - The World Factbook -- Nepal
Nepal News
Nepal : Country Studies - Federal Research Division, Library of ...
Nepal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nepal WWW Virtual Library

DFNYC
DFA

CC: "Tracey Denton"
From: "Heather Woodfield/DFNYC"
Subject: Re: To: DFNYC
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 08:21:11 -0400
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"

Paramendra,

I love that you are championing this issue. I'm not entirely sure where to begin, but I'm open to your suggestions or rather "Advocacy Plan." Do you want to write a piece for the website on the progress of Democracy for Nepal? Keep it to 500 words or be sure to explain it for an audience that knows nothing about Nepal, I would conjecture that most of our members do not.

-h

On Sep 17, 2005, at 11:14 PM, Paramendra Kumar Bhagat wrote:

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2005/09/to-dfnyc.html 1

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:43:13 -0400
From: "Tracey Denton/DFNYC"
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Re: [Alerts] Rally Today for a Democratic Nepal

hey PKB,

Sorry I couldn't make it to the rally - couldn't get out of work.

........

As for DFN - I am so excited. This is what I think we need to add to the efforts you've already done. First, a page on the DFNYC site, democracy for Nepal. We should put the link to your blog on that site, but I also think we need (1) a clear concise explanation of what's happening over there, (2) a list of any groups that you think are doing a decent job of promoting democracy the progresive way, including the absence and/or limitations of such groups. And we should consider at some point adding pictures and action items, for example, call your senators/congressperson and tell them ___________ about Nepal.

Once we get that up there, we should start telling our people to email you if they are interested in this "democracy the progressive way" committee, and then we go from there. have you bought the domain name democracyfornepal? If not, I can, and I would set up forwarding. No need to build a new webspace when we have plenty of web real estate.

The beginning, wait no, the MIDDLE, of something inspiring!

-Tracey

Tracey Denton
www.DemocracyforNYC.org - local DFA group
www.DemocracyforNewYork.org - state coalition of DFA groups
Email: tdenton@dfnyc.org

Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:51:27 -0400
From: "Tracey Denton/DFNYC"
To: info@dfnyc.org
CC:
Subject: [Alerts] Rally Today for a Democratic Nepal

Paramendra Kumar Bhagat, who recently transferred here from the DFA group in Indiana, would like DFNYC members to join in a rally for a Democratic Nepal at noon today (Friday).

What: Rally for a democratic Nepal
When: Today, Friday, Sept. 16, noon-4pm
Where: Dag Hammarskjold Park near the UN
Why: To mark Nepal's participation at the UN Assembly and raise awareness of the struggle for democracy in Nepal.

Letter to the UN Assembly regarding King Gyanendra Shah's abuses, from Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Nepal
http://samudaya.org/dissent/archives/2005/08/on_the_kings_ar.php

A message from Paramendra:

Nepalis and friends of Nepal wish to express solidarity with the peaceful demonstrators who have been braving police batons and tear gas shells in the streets of Nepal.

A rally for a democratic Nepal will meet at Dag Hammarskjold Park on September 16th, 2005, to mark Nepal's participation at the UN assembly. The king was to show up, but he chickened out. Now the rally is to help shape world opinion.

Where does DFNYC come in? It is about spreading democracy the progressive way.

Date: September 16, 2005, Friday.
Time: 12-4 PM.
Where: Near the UN building. Get off at the 42nd street station. And walk over to the Dag Hammarskjold Park.

You don't have to stay the entire time.

Want to learn more about the movement in Nepal?
Go to: http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com

- Paramendra Kumar Bhagat, paramendra@yahoo.com

--
Tracey Denton
www.DemocracyforNYC.org - local DFA group
www.DemocracyforNewYork.org - state coalition of DFA groups
Email: tdenton@dfnyc.org

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

For The First Time In A Decade, Permanent Peace Feels Possible




I really feel that. Permanent peace feels within reach. And it is for the democrats, the seven party coalition to not mess things up.

One fear I have is that the three large components of the coalition, the UML, the Koirala Congress and the Deuba Congress, might get in a hurry to compete with the Maoists politically. It is very important to understand the step 1, step 2, step 3 thing.

After the Maoists have disarmed and become part of the interim government, then all parties compete openly. Each party will have anywhere between six and 12 months to compete. That is plenty of time to expand, and if you can't expand then, perhaps you don't deserve to.

But now is not the time. As long as the ceasefire is maintained, the parties should encourage the Maoists to set up their village committees and organize peaceful protest programs.

Step 1: Maintain ceasefire. That is key. If we democrats can engage the Maoists in a respectful way, they might even consider extending the ceasefire beyond the three months, if they feel that will help the goal of a constituent assembly.

Step 2: Organize an effective movement for democracy that culminates in an interim government. Even at this point you are not competing with the Maoists for political space. Don't get paranoid.

Step 3: Interim government of the seven parties. Even here you are not yet competing with the Maoists politically.

Step 4: Respectful peace talks with the Maoists that might or might not involve the UN, culminating with a Maoist disarmament, and their participation in the interim government.

Step 5: Run up to the elections for a Constituent Assembly. At this point you compete. But do not compete before this point. Trust the Nepali people. If you can offer them the best political program, they will vote for you.

This is not to suggest the parties should stay out of the villages, not at all. The reverse is true. Go in, organize, reenergize your rural bases. But encourage the Maoists also to do the same.

If they maintain the ceasefire, and come forth in peaceful protest programs, as they have said they will, all the glory to them. That is what we want, that is what we need. That is the best they are in a position to do at this point in time.

Remember, it is step 1, step 2, step 3. The conflict has to be resolved in stages.

I am very pleased with the ongoing talks between the two camps. That is how you do it. You talk, back and forth and back and forth, until you have hammered things out.

The chips are all falling in place. Don't mess things up.

In The News
at 2 comments:

The Mutual Attraction: King G And Tulsi Giri


This king's fundamental inclinations are ultra-right. His actions speak lound and clear. The kind of people you feel comfortable with says a lot about who you are, what your priorities are, the segment of the political spectrum you occupy.

His top choice was Tulsi Giri, the person who helped Mahendra dismantle democracy in 1960. This is not even a monarchist. This is an ultra-right ideologue. If he were a monarchist, he would have stomached the limited liberalization of the Panchayat by Birendra. But instead this joker left the country, he got so offended.

Giri's allegiance is not to the crown, but to an isolated segment of far right ideology. Perhaps it is that same segment that King G occupies. And hence the meeting ground between the two.

King G is not that innocent. He is for an activist monarchy, and militarization. Democrats offend him. That is his track record.

I am for Tulsi Giri speaking his mind. I don't expect him to change his thought patterns, but I do want him to reveal the same as much as possible. This is necessary to wake up the lethargic democrats. Before you can make your counter moves, you have to know what it is you are dealing with.

Ahobhagya Shaubhagya: Confusion InThe Monarchist Camp
Physical Abuse Of Peaceful Protestors
Tulsi Giri Is Beyond Redemption

In The News
  • Giri’s attack on constitution is part of a conspiracy: RJP chief NepalNews “There should have been immediate clarification from the chairperson of the cabinet [His Majesty King chairs the cabinet] over Giri’s attack on the constitution of 1990. It’s surprising that there hasn’t been a word yet .... There is conspiracy behind this. This indicates that the state itself is actively working to destroy the constitution. What keeps the chairperson of the cabinet mum when a responsible member of the cabinets goes on attacking the constitution?” ..... the government’s silence on the issue could ‘invite disaster’, leading the people and the political forces to choose their own path...... Dr Giri’s Biratnagar address left no room for confusion as to who is leading the ultra-rightist political coterie in Nepal. “This makes clear who is behind the ultra-rightist movement in the country.”
  • US ambassador meets Koirala the first meeting of the US ambassador with an opposition political leader in the context of the Maoist truce and the intensified agitations of the seven-party alliance
  • NBA files contempt of court case against Dr Giri accused Giri of speaking against the apex court and its Justices ...... contemptuous as he accused the honourable Justices of being influenced by the political parties
  • Thousands take part in peace rally
  • Consumers’ body flays intervention in community forests The “people’s governments” of the Maoists in districts have been pressuring for donations and while the government side is also charging extra ‘revenue’ and has even set up security camps in community forests ..... the directives, which are yet to be implemented fully, the provisions of sharing benefits of ‘mutual forest’ - 25 percent revenue to forest management committee and 75 percent to the government fund whereas it is the other way round in the case of community forests – is unfair. “This is a ploy of the government to make people slaves”..... there are more than 14,000 ‘community forestry committees’ in Nepal and 113,991 hectors of forest area is managed by these committees. In this movement, around 854077 people from 1574029 households have participation.
  • Leaders rap Dr Giri's statement "This is an anti-constitutional, irresponsible and outrageous statement from an unconstitutional official" ...... "It is the grumbling of foolish autocrats." ...... 'a blatant attack on the constitution, press freedom and people's sovereignty'. .....
  • Govt. attorney pleads against incumbent ministers an interesting development, government attorneys have demanded that the Supreme Court (SC) name two ministers in the cabinet, Home Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi and Assistant Minister for Education and Sports Senate Shrestha, as convicts on charges of corruption..... anti-graft constitutional body claimed that Shahi, along with the then minister for agriculture Padma Sundar Lawati, had direct involvement in the smuggling of chemical fertiliser from India, causing revenue losses worth billions of rupees...... The CIAA has claimed that the accused were involved in an embezzlement worth more than Rs. 40 billion.
  • NBA Files Case Against Tulsi Giri Himalayan Times, Nepal
  • Contempt of court case against Giri Kantipur Online
  • Thapa Flays Giri's Remarks Himalayan Times
  • Tulsi Giri’s Firm Finally Clears 20-yr-old Loan Himalayan Times, Nepal
  • Nepal lawyers take king's deputy to court:- Webindia123, India
  • Resurrect constitution Kathmandu Post, Nepal
  • Parties making noise for republic on foreigners’ instigation Gorkhapatra, Nepal
  • Maoist violence still on; villagers, students abducted
  • King planning autocratic constitution: Nepal Kantipur ..... accused the King of planning to draft a new constitution to ban the political parties. ...... the King, after being isolated from the national and international communities, was trying to establish an “autocratic constitution” to restrict the activities of the political parties...... the recent remark made by Cabinet Vice-Chairman Dr. Tulsi Giri was a deliberate expression of the King’s opinion, Nepal warned that the institution of monarchy would come to an end if efforts were made to bring in such a constitution...... “Giri has exposed what’s going on in the King’s mind...... Giri is the King’s puppet, he dances to the King’s tune.” ..... the Maoist problem could be resolved only through a constituent assembly, Nepal, however, argued that the United Nations, not the King, should take initiatives for the same..... the seven-party alliance was doing serious homework on holding talks with the Maoists, Nepal said, “We have been holding frequent talks with them [Maoists].”..... the recent remarks made by Dr Tulsi Giri on the country's constitution are a bad omen for the country's future politics....... had criticized the commission for welcoming the three-month unilateral truce announced by the Maoists...... the government should at least call back the security personnel in the army barracks if it cannot reciprocate the Maoist truce, Giri said in Biratnagar, "How appropriate is it for the government appointed commission member to speak like that?"
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Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Ahobhagya Shaubhagya: Confusion InThe Monarchist Camp


I just bumped into this article by Shaubhagya Shaha whom I took to task several months back for another article. Shaubhagya Shaha: Autocracy 101 At Harvard.

This article has got to be the most articulate expression of the confusion ringing in the Monarchist camp since the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Maoists. It is not for no reason I congratulated Prachanda for his most brilliant military move to date. The ceasefire has done what no amount of fighting would have done. And, no, the credit does not go to the civil society or to the seven parties. The credit goes to the Maoists. They are going through an amazing ideological transformation. They are taking these creative steps after their diligent internal analysis.

The ceasefire has turned the Monarchist world upside down. This is what I meant when I said several months back the king is a rhino headed into a ditch. This is the ditch I was talking about. The Monarchists are like deer in the headlights. Wide-eyed. Trying to figure things out, not knowing how to do it. For the Monarchists, dream and reality are not so obviously different no more. They walk like sleep-walkers.

They are rigid. They hold power, but complain it is the agitating parties that are not talking, not compromising. Autocrats don't bend, they break.

Susta Sellouts And Other Vertigos
By Saubhagya Shah, in Scoop

Perhaps one of the biggest contemporary political mysteries must be this: the king who has pledged himself to holding multiparty elections within three years and transferring power to the elected representative is being opposed tooth and nail by an unlikely coalition of forces both within and outside the country. As if that was not odd enough, the same votaries of human rights, civil society, market economy and liberal democracy - local as well as alien - have now become the most willing bulwark for the Maoist party that began a violent campaign ten years ago explicitly to end multiparty democracy, establish a dictatorship of the communist party, dismantle the capitalistic economy and challenge Indian hegemony in Nepal. Surely there will be no human rights or press freedom - at least in its liberal form - in such a radical communist state? One is reminded of Bruce Lee’s predicament in an old martial arts movie in which he negotiated the treacherous hall of thousand mirrors: who is real and what is but an adversial shadow? While the politically savvy and the main contestants might know the inner logic of this apparent heaven and earth inversions, the recent spate of political gyrations continues to leave the silent masses clueless.

The King’s assumption of emergency powers last February in the midst of a decade-long crisis generated by the armed insurgency has polarized the major political formations into definite forms now. While the king finds himself more and more with the nationalist elements, many of the oppositional political parties have been drawn closer to the Maoists. This convergence appears to be both tactical as well as ideological. For example, the Nepali Congress, one of the main proponents of the Westminster model of governance, deleted constitutional monarchy from its party statute during the recent eleventh convention. A few short days before the party convention, however, the Nepali Congress president G.P. Koirala had sent shock waves in the political circles by disclosing that some of the most ardent advocates of republicanism within his own party were actually agent provocateurs on the king’s payroll and that republicanism was never a Nepali Congress agenda.

The growing pact between the Maoists and the opposition political parties is being cemented by the high profile activism of the civil society. Indeed, both the civil society leaders and the political parties have claimed that the recent unilateral cease-fire announced by the rebels was an indication of their influence with the Maoists. How to make sense of this unlikely maneuverings and the vertigo producing abrupt veerings and about turns of Nepali politics?

Nepali Politics

One tentative approach might be to look at it from the way the two competing forces articulate their claims. While the crown harks to its historical role as the nation’s founding institution and its territorial and ideological guardian, the political parties and the civil society combine draw upon the abstract notions of human rights and liberal democracy to press home their claims to power. In the increasingly acrimonious contest for supremacy in Nepal, these basic claims bestow their own sets of advantages and liabilities upon the claimants. While much of the monarchy’s legitimacy is internally constituted, this very fact can become a handicap in the new world order that does not look too kindly to any sovereign authority that is not explicitly created or at least patronized by the dominant global or regional powers. Ironically, the Nepali crown’s independent origin thus turns into its Achilles’ heel externally.

Since the political parties and the politically vocal civil society march under the banners of human rights and liberal democracy, they are assured of ideological and material sustenance from the dominant Euro-American axis. In a poor country, external assets of this kind becomes a major force in determining the outcome of local contests. The privilege of such patronage is, however, not without its ambiguities and obligations. First, it entails acknowledging the contingent Euro-American conceptions about the individual, market arrangements, and government configuration as absolute human universals across time and space. The acceptance of a particular cultural practice as human norm is not an insignificant price, at least intellectually. Second, despite the claim to universality, the TOR for the local adherents does not allow them to comment on the state of human rights, press freedom and democracy in the sponsoring nations or other traumatized areas like Palestine, Algeria or Kashmir in a truly internationalist fashion. If the tactic as well as the target are pre-selected from elsewhere, there can not be much of meaningful human agency or democracy in such engagements.

Foreign intervention does not come free, even when it is ostensibly in one’s favor. The enlightened nations are not in the habit of doing democracy missions abroad for purely philanthropic reasons: they do it only when it is profitable and they can drive attractive geopolitical, ideological or economic bargains. Given the apparent costs of calling up allies from abroad, the various forces fighting in Nepal should swallow some of their misplaced pride and come to an internal deal. After all, what kind of pride is it to ask outsiders to come and put you in power, a la Chalabi? From the national (not partisan) standpoint, it is more honorable to make concessions to your internal rivals than to indebt the country to external patrons. That way the initiative will remain within the nation and can be reapportioned later when the situation demands it. Once the issues and initiatives are taken outside the country, it is much harder to regain them...as we are finding out with Kalapani and Koshi issues. Like many previous occasions when the country was distracted in internal feuds, the Susta area in the south is now about to slip out of our hands because none of the major protagonists in Nepal want to risk losing New Delhi’s patronage by being the first to voice their principled opposition to India’s illegal take-over of Nepali territory. Over the decades, territorial sellouts has been established as normal cost of doing politics in Nepal. The silent accomplices to foreign occupation must understand that the people need a sovereign turf to enjoy the blessings of human rights and democracy and that these ideals do not exist in context-free vacuum.

Harvard Ph.D. Saubhagya Shah teaches anthropology at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

In The News
at 1 comment:

Physical Abuse Of Peaceful Protestors



The movement needs to keep track of everything.

Already demonstrators have been subjected to arbitrary beatings, arrests, and tortures.

A few days back blank shots were fired.

Each incident of physical abuse and assault has to be documented. Preferably take digital photos and store them. We need faces so we can track down names once we democrats take over power.

Once we get names, we can track down where the orders came from, post-power.

The most vicious attacks always originate in the highest echelons of power. Those giving orders are to be held responsible.

To take over power without any constitutional provisions to do so is a coup and tantamount to treason. Appointees of an illegal government who might abuse the state machinery to physically abuse citizens must be going against many laws in many different books, domestic and international.

Maybe it is Tulsi Giri behind those half dozen shots fired into the air. Those are not warning shots to peaceful demonstrators. Those are Tulsi Giri counting the metal bars in his jail cell.

It is very important to have this mechanism in place so that people illegitimately in power think twice, thrice, four times, a dozen times, before they notch up the repression. There will be hell to pay.

We have to struggle for democracy peacefully but with utmost confidence. With intelligence. In a sophisticated fashion. We have to think power is only a few months away.

We have to be very clear and vocal about this will-get-even mechanism. This is the least we can do to ensure the physical safety of peaceful demonstrators.

Federalism: The Common Minimum Program For All Madhesis

Pahadi chauvinism is so evident within the democracy movement. Madhesis have to watch out for that. Even if the country goes through a Constituent Assembly, and we end up with a constitution that has no provisions for federalism, that will be another generation of Madhesis having to struggle. That will be such a waste.

We should work to make federalism an integral part of the political program of the movement. If that not be forthcoming, this movement will have to march on without me. I am not for a democracy that brings back the 1990s status quo. That structure was fundamentally wrong.

People wonder why I have a soft spot in my heart for the Maoists politically. They are as uncompromising on the federalism issue as I am. Maybe they are even more so than me. That means a lot to me. I return the favor by supporting their land reform plank. I support it 110%.

Powerlessness has its own structures. As you go up vertically as a Madhesi, through luck, happenstance, talent, hard work, through the cracks in the glass ceilings in the Nepali reality, you usually find there are only 5% or less Madhesis around you when there should be 50%. That 45% disparity leads to some curious psychology among the 5%. It is so hard to get them to claim their Madhesi identity, to organize, on behalf of themselves, for the sake of dignity, but primarily on behalf of the other 90% Madhesis who are still on the ground floor. This is also true of the Nepali social settings in the US where the Madhesis do not depend on Pahadis for their career advancements. The social and mental warps also engulf the social settings. That is such a travesty.

The current ongoing movement is the best political opportunity Madhesis ever had to attain political equality in one push. Let's not lose this chance. Take an active part in this movement from wherever you are so as to become a strong, vocal group that is an uncompromising pressure group for federalism within the democracy movement.

September 16 Protest Rally
The King In Janakpur
Words Matter
Madhesi Hum Lenge Sau Mein Pachas
Hridayesh Tripathy
The Kathmandu Media Ignores The Sadbhavana
Caste Discrimination Leads To War
Alliance Gathering At Queens Bridge Park
To: Koirala, Nepal, KC, Pokharel, Tripathy, Mahto And The Rest
Shambhu Thapa On Radio Dovaan
Kunda Dixit In Jackson Heights
Adding Video Clips To This Blog
Constituent Assembly Will Still Be A Lot Of Work In The Form Of Political Dialogue
Sangram Morcha: A New Political Party (1993)
Badri Mandal: Sadbhavana's RPP Face
Peace First, Then Democracy, Democracy First, Then Social Justice
Common Minimum Program: Constituent Assembly
The Emotional Structure Of The Conflict
Phone Talk With Hridayesh Tripathy
Madhesi Rights: Abhi Nahin To Kabhi Nahin
Pradip Giri: DaMaJaMa
Tibetans And Madhesis
How To Move Towards A Common Minimum Program?
This Inadequate, Improper, Insufficient 1990 Constitution
Phone Interview With Rajendra Mahato
Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka: Lessons For Nepal
Hridayesh Tripathy In Delhi: Good News

Ms. Block, Mr. Moriarty

One a Democrat, another a Republican, both speaking with one voice for democracy in Nepal. That should not come as a surprise. Spreading democracy is not a partisan issue in US politics.

On another note, I have in the past confused some of my local Democrat friends in the city by defending Gagan Thapa's right to be as republican as he wants to be. But we thought you were with us!

In The News
at No comments:

Protests










at No comments:

Tom Pain Has Praise For This Blog


Carnival of the Revolutions

Paramendra Bhagat (a fellow New Yorker) at Democracy for Nepal works on strategy for his countrymen struggling to bring democracy to their troubled nation. I'm not too familiar with Nepalese politics, but what he's proposing sounds like civil disobedience along the lines of Tiananmen, but with a clearer behind-the-protest plan for structure and change. It looks like an uphill battle, given the current three-way fight between monarchists, Maoists (yikes!), and democrats. This revolution is truly a work-in-progress, and Bhagat's blog looks to me like the best way to follow it.

Tom, what can I say? I greatly appreciate this mention. This is the best explicit praise this blog has received to date. I am much obliged.

I derive satisfaction from the fact that this blog is political work, and has been a reference point for many individuals involved in the peace process in rather intimate ways. This is easily the most important political work I ever did.

Only earlier today I received an email from Madhav Nepal who leads the largest politial party in Nepal. I was rather touched by the good things he had to say about this blog. And then you show up.

Thank you.

Sugam Pokharel, Evansville, Indiana

Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 08:04:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: "sugam pokharel"
Subject: Guy from Evansville
To: paramendra@yahoo.com

k cha dai, aramai hunu huncha malai ta daile birsi saknu bhayo hola...hami indian resturant ma khana gayeka thiyau ni...

ani dai ko photo haru herdai thiye...asti ko NY ko protest ko...ramro lagyo...photo herda herdai tapaiko website tira pani puge...web site pani sabai here.... tapaiko resume yek dum strong rahecha....tapaiko resume le chai yek dum impress garyo malai...

aj kal k gardai hunu huncha?....milyo bhane hamro university tira pasnu kahile kahi... la ta dai bye 1

Sonal Singh, Baltimore, Maryland

 Subject: RE: nepal -democracy
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 07:45:19 -0400
From: "Sonal Singh"
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"

Dear Paramendraji,

You can defintely web-publish the two papers as long as we quote the original source as both are published in open access journals amd free for distribtion

Singh S , Dahal K, Mills E " Nepals war on human rights - A summit higher than everest"Int J Equity Health. 2005 Jun 28;4:9.
http://www.equityhealthj.com/content/4/1/9

Singh S, Mills E, Honeyman S, Suvedi BK, Pant NP (2005) HIV in Nepal: Is the Violent Conflict Fuelling the Epidemic? PLoS Med 2(8): e216
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020216

I will have to request permission from the Canadian Medical Association Journal to web-publish the 3rd article
Singh S . Impact of long-term political conflict on population health in Nepal.
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/171/12/1499

Let me know what I can help in your endeavour

Kind regards
Sonal

Subject: nepal -democracy
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:29:32 -0400
From: "Sonal Singh"
To: paramendra@yahoo.com

Dear bhagatji,
I admire you efforts for democracy in Nepal through your website and blog and whole-heartedly support it

I have been doing some research on the impact of conflict and health and human rights in nepal and sending you the links

Sonal

Sonal Singh MD MPh(std)
Johns Hopkins University

CMAJ_Nepal_1499.pdf CMAJ_Nepal_1499.pdf (368k)
1475_9276_4_9.pdf 1475_9276_4_9.pdf (260k)
plme_02_08_singh.pdf plme_02_08_singh.pdf (330k)

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Monday, September 19, 2005

Email From Madhav Kumar Nepal


Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 10:40:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Re: Time For A Decisive Showdown: Take Over New Road
To: gamknepal@gmail.com

Madhavji.

Thank you for writing. Dhanyabad.

Bharkhar kehi samay pahile Bharat Mohanji sanga yahan bhent bhayo. I sent you photos.

Ahile mero lagi all Nepal all the time bhayeko chha. Full time jastai. I feel like this is the least I can do. Tapain haroo tyahan tyatro sacrifice gari rahanu bhako chha.

The vast majority of Nepalis here are totally behind the movement. We are totally with you. And with enlightened ehthusiasm.

Yo winter lai nirnayak banauna paryo. This regime should not see 2006.

I am totally with you and your seven party colleagues. A lot of us are.

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/ visit gardai garnu hola. I will also email on a regular basis.

Yo aandolan euta pabitra kura ho. This is going to have major regional and global implications. Ma yahan ko Democratic Party lai tyahi convince garna tira lageko chhu. Howard Dean chairs the Democratic Party. I am on excellent terms with some people here in NYC who are on personal terms with Dean. Tara Republican Party lai panee neglect garne kunai yojana chhaina.

Ma tapain ko email mero blog ma publish garchhu. It will help the cause. I am assuming it will be okay with you.

If there is anything specific I can do down the line, please feel free to get in touch with me. Moral and logistical support dubai dine prayas chha yata bata. Ma personally nai lagya chhu. America ka college haroo ma grass roots fund-raising panee garne. Ra tyahi network prayog garera US Congress pani jhakjhakyaune. Tyo prayas chha. I am working closely with Charlie Szrom, president of Students for Global Democracy. We are in the early stages of chalking out the details.

Baroo seven party alliance ka top 20-30 jana neta haroo ko phone number haroo malai kripaya email gari dinu hola. Email bata sabai kura hundaina.

For now, I would like to emphasize the importance of formally deciding on one leader, the interim Prime Minister in waiting, as well the interim government in waiting. Unilaterally sarkar ghoshana garne thulo sambhavana maile dekheko chhu. After the movement reaches a critical point. That way we are less dependent on possible good behavior by the king and the monarchists. Unee haroo lai bad behavior ko banee lageko chha.

Thank you. On to victory.

Tapain lai, ra tapain ka sabai comrade haroo lai mero krantikari abhibadan. Hridayeshji, Rajendraji, Bimalji haroo lai pani maile sodhya chha bhandinu hola.

Paramendra.

--- "M. K. Nepal" wrote:
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 22:26:19 +0545
From: "M. K. Nepal"
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Re: Time For A Decisive Showdown: Take Over New Road

> Dear Mr. Bhagat,

> Thank You very much for sending materials and mails regularly to me. > Your > serious concern and intellectual input is really useful and inspiring > to me. > We need people like you who is all the time thinking about Nepal and > the > Nepali people. Your proposal in this mail is worth considerable with > some > amendment and reconsideration on some part. We are now working > seriously for > charting a detailed plan of going and mobiliging the people in large > scale > during this 2 months of time all over the country and then > concentrating > basically all the strength in the capital city -Kathmandu . We are > also > thinking to use the opportunity of the 3 months Ceasefire period for > renewing our relationship with the people and finding a comprehensive > > agreement with the Maoist taking the international community in > confidence.

> Your suggestions in this regard will be of great help.

> Thanking You Your's M.K.Nepal

> > On 9/19/05, Paramendra Kumar Bhagat wrote:

> http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2005/09/options-for-maoists-and-democrats.html > >

http://www.paramendra.com
http://www.swapn.biz

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