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Third World Bureaucracy In New York

Third World Bureaucracy In New York https://t.co/Ik4JcapF56 @KathyHochul @GovKathyHochul @LiuNewYork

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) September 6, 2021

The Demand for Money Behind Many Police Traffic Stops https://t.co/2VsIlKBu3s

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) November 2, 2021

मेरा परिचय: मैं एक प्रवासी डिजिटल एक्टिविस्ट

मैं एक प्रवासी मधेसी, एक प्रवासी नेपाली। न्यु यॉर्क में रहता हुँ। नेपाल में काठमाण्डु जो है, दुनिया में न्यु यॉर्क वही है: राजधानी। कोइ जनकपुर से काठमाण्डु जाता है तो नहीं कहते अरे घर छोड़ के चले गए। मैं जब जनकपुर से काठमाण्डु जाया करता था तो रात्रि बसमें भर रात का सफर होता था। तो अभी दिल्ली से न्यु यॉर्क के डायरेक्ट फ्लाइट में बारह घंटे तो ही लगते हैं। उतना दुर तो नहीं। 

मैं प्रवास में ना होता तो सन २००५, २००६ और २००७ में जो मैंने काम किया वो शायद न कर सकता। लोकतंत्र के लिए। फिर मधेसी क्रांति के लिए। मेरा रोल क्या? मैंने जो किया उसे पत्रकारिता नहीं कहते। मुझे एक डिजिटल एक्टिविस्ट (digital activist) कह लिजिए। किसी संगठन में पद तो दुर की बात, सदस्यता तक नहीं। अगर मैं नेपाल में होता तो जसपा अथवा जनमत पार्टी के केन्द्रीय समिति में होता। तो जसपा अथवा जनमत पार्टी के किसी भी केंद्रीय सदस्य से मैं कम योगदान करता हुँ वैसा तो मुझे नहीं लगता। वो भी कोइ पद लिए बगैर। तो नेपाल में रह के जो पद लेते हैं उसे भी आप भराबुला कहेंगे, जो पद न ले उसे भी, तो वो तो नाइंसाफी हुइ। पद लेनेवालों की कमीं नहीं। हम बगैर पद के ही ठीक हैं। अपना काम कर रहे हैं। राजनीतिक विचार, रणनीति पेश करते रहते हैं। सुनने वालों पर कोइ प्रेशर भी नहीं रहता कि मेरा किया ही करो। 

उजाले के गति में सुचना प्रवाह होती है। बहुत लोग जुड़े रहते हैं। लेकिन ये भी है कि आप सिर्फ न्यु यॉर्क टाइम्स और वाशिंगटन पोस्ट पढ़ के अमेरिकी राजनीति नहीं समझ सकते। उसी तरह सिर्फ ऑनलाइन न्युज पढ़ के नेपालकी राजनीति समझी नहीं जा सकती। तो लोगों मिलने का काम तो वहां के फुल टाइमर लोग तो करते ही हैं। 

नेपालके राजनीति में मैं देखता हुँ एक से एक काबिल लोग सब हैं। सन २००५ और २००६ में लोकतंत्र के लिए खटने वाले अमेरिका के नेपाली लोगों में से मैं अकेला फुल टाइमर था। दिन रात सुबह शाम हप्ते में सात दिन। मेरा ग्रीन कार्ड था, एक्सपायर हो गया पता भी नहीं चला। उसके बाद से अभी तक जो सब हुवा है नेपाली राजनीति में मेरे को कभी ग्लानि नहीं हुइ। लोकतंत्र एक नीट एंड क्लीन व्यवस्था नहीं होती। अधिकांश मेडीओकर (mediocre) लोग ही प्रधान मंत्री बनेंगे। वैसा होता है। नेता लोगो का रोल होता है। जनता की भी रोल होती है। सिस्टम बनाने में वक्त लगता है। 

मैं नयु यॉर्क शहर में लेकिन नहीं। मेट्रो एरिया में हुँ। एक छोटा सा गाओं है। इतना छोटा की मुझे जहाँ जहाँ जाना होता है पैदल ही पहुँच जाता हुँ। मेरा न अपना घर है न गाडी। अमेरिकन ड्रीम कहने वाले कहते हैं: घर और गाडी। मैंने कई मर्तबा प्रयास किया टेक स्टार्टअप शुरू करूँ। अभी एक किताब लिख रहा हुँ। फिर से एक बार प्रयास करूँगा टेक स्टार्टअप। मेरे को लगता है नेपाल, बिहार, भारत, अफ्रीका के अरबो लोगो की सेवा करने की सबसे अच्छी रास्ता शायद वही है। इसलिए। 

(फोटो: नवंबर २०१५)

अविश्वास प्रस्ताव ल्याउन जति ढिलाइ हुन्छ, उति धेरै संकट निम्तिन्छ- नेता पौडेल 

लोकतन्त्रलाई कमजोर पार्न खोज्ने शक्तिहरु कमजोर हुँदैछन्- प्रधानमन्त्री ओली

यस्तो छ सलमान खानको 'राधे'को ट्रेलर (भिडिओ)

From Third World To First: The Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yew (Free PDF Download)
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis (Free PDF Download)

Foundations Of A New Madhesi Global Organization

I feel strongly that there is a need for a new Madhesi global organization.

Step 1: Invite in members globally. Fill out this form. Membership is free.

Step 2: For the US chapter, I will wait until there are over 100 members. Then an election will be organized. The election will be online and open. Then we have Officers.

Step 3: The conference call will be the primary way to hold meetings. Zero travel. A robust use of social media and online tools.

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No Guarantees

(written for Vishwa Sandesh)

A tech startup is high risk behavior. If you had 100,000 dollars to invest, a financial advisor would tell you, put 10% of your money in the no risk zone. It might be money in a checking account, or a savings account. Put 10% of your money in high risk, high gain investments. This is money you could lose, but this is also money that could see wild growth. And then put 90% of your money somewhere in between. US Treasury bonds might give you a 5% annual return, but they are safe. Stocks might give you a 10% annual return, but they are volatile.

Investing in the first round of a successful startup could see your money grow 10,000%, but it is very hard to get in. Chances are you don’t personally know the founder of a tech startup who is just starting out. You simply don’t have that kind of social capital. And it is very hard to figure out if a tech startup is going to be successful or if it is going to go belly up.

And so I offered a hybrid situation to my high school friend Ravindra Sapkota a few months back. He is an Oxford University graduate running the top biotech company in Nepal. He raised half a million pounds out of college to launch his venture. It has had a few successful years in a row and I feel is in a prime position to raise its second round of funding.

Ravindra invested 5,000 dollars as soon as he found out I was launching a tech startup. A week later after sending the money we finally got to talking about what the idea is, what my plans were. He also later brought in one of his professors at 5,000. The professor is hoping to launch a biotech startup and is eager to raise some money for it in the New York market. I have also offered to help Ravindra raise round two money for his biotech startup in the New York market, the money capital of the world.

I made it risk free for them, as to Kundan Gurung who was one year senior to me at high school, and now lives five blocks from me in Woodside. Kundan is also in at 5,000.

The “risk free” deal I offered to them is this.

Should the venture fail, from the day of the failure, I will have 12 months to return this 5K to you, as if it were a personal loan. Should the venture succeed, I will get 5% of the growth this investment might see. So if this 5K becomes a million dollars in five years, I get 5% of that million, namely 50K, and you get the rest.

To them it feels like the worst that can happen is their 5K will not grow. That puts their money in the safe 10% no risk zone. To me it feels like I just signed up to get 50K for free. I am hugely optimistic and confident about my venture.

This instrument I invented is not to say a tech startup is risk free. It is anything but. You take multiple risks on a daily basis. You have to innovate fast. You have to move fast.

A tech startup is super risky. That is precisely why the rewards are super high. No Nepali in New York City has a net worth approaching a hundred million dollars. And you can’t dream of getting there the old economy way. A successful tech startup might be one of the few vehicles to get there.

Launching a successful tech startup also puts you in a good position to raise money for your NGO, your non profit, if you have one, it puts you in a good position to raise money for hydro projects in Nepal, should that hit your fancy.

It takes a lot to be a successful entrepreneur, especially a successful tech entrepreneur. A huge appetite for risk is key. You will almost never have 100% of the information you need. Often times you will only know half of what you need to know. And you still have to call the shots with utmost confidence. You have to have the right instincts, or you have to cultivate them.

You could fail a thousand ways. You could fail every step of the way. You could fail after two years of “success.” The market (the goddess) could kill you three years down the line in one fell swoop and with little to no warning.

I don’t see all that as a downside. That risk factor is part of the excitement. It is reward in its own right.

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Nepalis In New York And The NRN Movement

Looks like there is some kind of a NRN event in New York City next month and I have been approached by a friend to try and get a VIP local politician to show up as the Chief Guest. I have a State Senator friend in mind, Bill Perkins of Harlem who was the first elected official in New York to support Obama when he first ran for president. Once I know the precise date and time for the event, I can try and approach him to see if he is available.

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The conversation made me think though. I was the only Nepali in America to have worked full time for Nepal's democracy movement of 2006, and later the Madhesi movement. But my style was one of digital activism. I did not join any organization.

I have a newfound interest in Nepal. That's there. But it is hard for me to ignore some of the very real issues the Nepali community in New York City, in America, and the world at large grapples with. Instead of being the best and the brightest who went global and are willing and able to lead Nepal to an era of rapid economic growth, we find little gatherings of locally relatively well to do homesick Nepalis begging the Nepali establishment in Kathmandu for very basic rights. Much of that comes from how we have attempted to organize ourselves. There has been no desire to go mass based. A lacking culture of basic democracy, transparency and egalitarianism has been holding us back.

Kiva Is In Nepal

There are no rich Nepalis in America. If there were, I'd have read about them in some magazine. I never have. So for people who might be in professional white collar jobs to dissociate from the masses who might be working below minimum wage salaries is not classist. It is self destructive behavior. Because the power rests in mass organizing. Power is in numbers. Unless Nepalis get organized in large numbers, we can not better our situation locally, and we can not earn our rights inside Nepal, and we can not help Nepal in major ways.

The well and alive anti Madhesi prejudice among the diaspora Nepalis is another self destructive behavior. Unless the Nepalis in New York City claim their larger South Asian identity, they are not going anywhere. Working for Indian bosses by the day, and talking hate speech against them by the night are not exactly the way to go.

I have no desire to become yet another token Madhesi in New York City. I was one of Barack Obama's top volunteers in the city. This is a city where Indians matter little, and Nepalis are not even on the map anywhere. There has to be an acknowledgment among the Pahadis that things were and are wrong in Nepal and that is why you see so few Madhesis in New York City. Talking hate speech is not how you express that acknowledgment. And there has to be a sense of mutual respect. And we have to forge a new Nepali identity. And that is how we can become better organized.

There are about 50,000 Nepalis in New York City. Most of them party in small groups about once a a week. Identify those party organizers. Every Nepali in the city has a mobile phone. Those parties and those phones are the key to going mass based in terms of organization. 50 white collar Nepalis meeting in some five star hotel is not my idea of a mass based organization. And for as long as we don't go mass based, we will stay largely irrelevant.

Nepali Slaves In The Middle East
Image via Wikipedia

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The NRN Debate: It Is A Global, Online World

(sent to NepalNews.com)

Over the past few days I have read with great interest the raging
debate on the NRN question at the NepalNews website. Rabindra Mishra
and Krishna Sharma have come to it from two tangential angles. I have
also followed the ongoing NRN conference in Kathmandu through the
online media outlets with great interest. I wish the NRNA made and put
online full fledged videos of all the key speeches. It is so easy and
inexpensive to do.

Two words answer most of my curiosities on the topic: internet and
globalization. The world has changed fundamentally over the past
decade. You could argue it has turned upside down this past year with
a black man in the White House. Is that a slap to 500 years of world
history? The churns of digital technology and globalization have
affected Nepal and Nepalis as they have peoples everywhere. I receive
calls in New York City from some of the tens of people from my
homevillage near Janakpur, Nepal, who are in Malaysia and the Gulf
states. I might have taken the American college route to
globalization, but they also flew. Recently when I spent a few days
with MP Jitendra Sonal of the Terai Madhesi Loktantric Party in New
York, he found himself talking to an informed person who skimmed
through the news headlines on Nepal most mornings. For the first time
I got to meet Madhav Nepal in New York, but he has been calling me a
friend for a few years now. The physical distance of tens of thousands
of miles and the fact of never having met did not hinder. I got to
meet Pradip Giri at an event in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York
several weeks back for the first time. I had long admired him, but
that was my first time meeting him. People were puzzled he talked
about me so many times in his speech that day. He has been on my
mailing list. I have long admired both Pradip Giri and Baburam
Bhattarai. Their intellects astound me.

I have not been to Nepal in years. Some people argue that is a good
reason I should not be commenting on Nepali politics. To them I say,
there are astronomers who have never been to planet Jupiter. I know
Nepal. I care about Nepal. I think about the country daily.

Rabindra Mishra's weakness is to not realize or respect that talk
itself is action. I long to see the day when I can get the Nepalis in
New York City to start talking about immigration issues as they affect
their lives right here in New York and in America. The Irish
immigrants could vote in Boston 150 years ago upon arrival, and before
getting legalized. Why can't the Nepalis today? That question is not
being asked.

But concrete action is important, and Mishra's very own Help Nepal
network is a good example of the good work the global Nepalis can hope
to do with modest contributions of time and money. I have sponsored
the education of tens of Dalit kids in my homevillage the past several
years. True, I have not needed a dual citizenship to do that. But it
is not either or.

The Chinese economic miracle of the past several decades could not
have been possible without the active role played by the Chinese
diaspora. A dual citizenship regime would similarly free up the global
Nepalis in their efforts to put Nepal on the China-India track. The
leadership role will have to be played by the duly elected leaders in
Nepal, there is no doubt about that. But the global Nepalis are needed
to lubricate the incoming flows of capital, technology and ideas and
skills from the global pool to the Nepali playground. India did it.
Nepal should do it. It makes fundamental sense. You could send people
from my homevillage to Malaysia or you could bring foreign direct
investment into my village and create jobs there so those people no
longer have to go to Malaysia. Nepal can not dream of ambitious
infrastructure and industrial undertakings if it does not go for dual
citizenship. To put it absolutely bluntly, an economic revolution in
Nepal is not possible without dual citizenship for the global Nepalis.
I am confident the new constitution will have the appropriate
provisions.

A necessary byproduct of globalization is that people will move
around. People from Nepal will go to other parts of the world. People
from other parts of the world will want to move to Nepal to live
there. And all that is a good thing. One great growth industry for a
country like Nepal could be retirement tourism like India has been at
the forefront of medical tourism. You would build communities where
retired people from rich countries could come spend the final decades
of their lives. They might barely get by on the money in their own
countries. In Nepal they could live large on the same. And the entire
time they could stay connected, having weekly video chat sessions with
their grand kids far away.

Brain drain is a colonial era phrase. It has to be retired. Today
there is only mobility, of capital and technology and people. We want
a world that pours a trillion dollars into microfinance. We want a
Nepal that is peaceful, and vibrant, and democratic, a Nepal where
Nepalis and non Nepalis alike get to contribute to rapid economic
growth. The global Nepalis are going to play a key role in that.

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Sonal In Scarsdale

Sonal In Scarsdale 

Saturday evening was a gathering at Binod Shah's place. He lives in Scarsdale. That would be Westchester County. Satya Yadav has his annual event at his Long Island home early in the year every year. I think Binodji is trying to set up something similar. He took a first crack at Holi. Now he is shooting for a Dashain khasi thing. I think it is a good thing to have a few family home setting events spread over the calendar that local Madhesis might have the option to show up for or not.

Celebrating birthdays is not native to Nepali culture. But many Nepalis do celebrate the same. Goat meat during Dashain is not a Madhesi thing, it is a Pahadi thing, Madhesis associate goat meat with Holi, but then there is culture, and there is cross-cultural pollination. And so there was goat meat, and there were about 20 or more Madhesis. Binodji ka ghar itna door hai shahar se, bahut Madhesi unke ghar jate jate raste mein hara ke wapas shahar ki or chale jate hain.

The main attraction of the evening was MP Jitendra Sonal of the Terai Madhes Loktantric Party (That Madhesi Agenda: Jitendra Sonal). I told him, there are about three Madhesis in town that show up for most events Nepali. Most of the rest stay away until someone big and famous like Sonal shows up.

I took many pictures, to be stored on Facebook as a private album to be shared with those who showed up and are also on Facebook.

Sonal's Talk

I think Sonal gave a terrific talk. We all sat on the floor and he talked. Then we fielded questions. He handled them really well. Sonal was beat up real bad by the police during the Madhesi Kranti. Before that he spent long years in the wilderness as a Sadbhavana cadre.

"Back then, even the trees and herded animals in the Terai were either with the Congress or the UML," he likes to say.

He gave solid replies to questions on what exactly is Madhes, and who is a Madhesi. The 22 Terai districts are Madhes, he said. He pointed out distinct cultural differences between the Madhesi and the Pahadi. The Pahadis in the Terai are Teraiwasi, he said. Madhesi is a cultural term.

I added that when they use the word madisey, they don't have the slightest doubt as to who the Madhesi is, but when we talk about rights and equality, they act like they don't know who the Madhesi is.

The formal part of the event was chaired by the ANTA New York chapter outgoing president Ritesh Chaudhary. 

Overnight

The event started in the afternoon, some people left late in the evening after dinner, but most stayed until the morning. Then I had a call from Sonal around 11 that he would like for me to join him for lunch with his friend Arvind Singh who is in Sunnyside.

Seaport Diwali

A few hours later Sonal went gift shopping with Arvind, I went to the Seaport Diwali.

Friday Evening: Ridgewood Dashain Party (Dashain Party, Ridgewood)

Jitendra Sonal showed up for this event late. He had just got back from his DC trip. Binodji wanted to know if the two of us would like to ride with him to Scarsdale that very evening while the rest joined us the following day. Neither of us felt ready.

Jamaica: Halal

Kamal Labh was responsible for the goat meat. He had been to the same halal place in Jamaica only a week or so earlier for another goat meat party with another group of his friends.

The Delegation

Sonal of course has been in town as part of the Prime Minister's delegation to the UN.
There was quite a tamasha towards the end of the Prime Minister's interaction program with the local Nepalis: Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday. I got interviewed by Namaste Nepal television towards the end of that event, and also by the USNepalOnline that was broadcasting live with Ustream. There was another tamasha during an interaction program of the Foreign Minister with some of the members of her party. Compared to all that Sonal's interaction with local Madhesis was smooth sailing.

Social Gathering, Political Talk

This was primarily a social gathering in Scarsdale, lekin 20 Madhesi jamma ho wahan rajniti ho, wo sambhav nahin hai.

Mission Madhes

I briefed Sonal about Mission Madhes during my time with him Sunday.

Bye

I get to see him off Monday evening.

Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday

September 25, 2009, Friday, 5:30 PM
Entrance: Free
Theme: Federalism In Nepal
Chian Federation Hall
44-01 Broadway
Astoria, NY 11103
Take the R or V train to 46th St

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Republic of Nepal

Date: September 24, 2009 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Location: Rotunda, Low Memorial Library, Columbia University

"Post-Conflict Challenges and Development"

A keynote address by
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

With remarks from
Sujata Koirala
Foreign Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

Followed by a question and answer session with the audience

Registration is required.

Right Honorable Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal, Prime Minister of Nepal, was born in Nepal's southern Rautahat district on March 6, 1953. He graduated in commerce from Tribhuvan University in 1973 and worked in banking services before joining politics.

Mr. Nepal joined the communist movement in 1969 as a member of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) under Pushpa Lal Shrestha, founder of the CPN. During his political career, Mr. Nepal spent two years as a political prisoner. In the democratic struggle against the one-party Panchayat System, he remained underground from 1974 to 1989. In 1978, Mr. Nepal became a founding politburo member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist Leninist), which later became CPN (United Marxist Leninist), popularly called UML in Nepal.

He played an active role during the first People's Movement and he was one of the members of the commission that drafted the Nepalese constitution in 1990. In 1991 he led the opposition in the National Assembly, the upper house of the Nepalese parliament. In 1995 he became Deputy Prime Minister with foreign and defense ministries under his portfolio in the Nepalese government led by Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari.

Since 1995 he has remained one of the main leaders in Nepalese politics, including his role as the leader of the Nepalese opposition in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002. With other democratic parties, he played an active role in leading the People's Movement in 2006 that overpowered absolute monarchy and contributed to the signing of peace agreements with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), beginning a peace process to end the deadly internal conflict that had entrenched the country for over a decade, killing over 13,000 people.

Mr. Nepal was the General Secretary of the CPN (UML) until he resigned in April 2008 after remaining in that position for over a decade. In 2009 Mr. Nepal became a member of the Constituent Assembly and was elected chairman of Constitutional Committee of the Constituent Assembly that is entrusted to draft Nepal's new constitution. He became Prime Minister of Nepal on May 25, 2009.

Apart from Nepali and English, Mr. Nepal also speaks Hindi and regional dialects of Maithali and Bhojpuri. He is married to Ms. Gayatri Nepal. They have a daughter and a son.

Image via Wikipedia

Reception by Nepal Mission
Tangra Asian Fusion Cuisine
39-23 Queens Blvd.
Sunnyside, New York 11104
Thursday, September 24, 2009, 7:00 PM

Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): I Give Madhav Nepal Six Months
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): News X Interview With Madhav Nepal
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Time To Rally Around Madhav Nepal
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Madhav Nepal Would Be A Great Choice
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): The UML Could Split
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): A DaMaJaMaKha Panel
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Upendra Yadav's Options
Madhav Nepal And Rule Of Law
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): MJF: Is Reconciliation Possible?
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Putting The MJF Fire Out
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): MJF Will Emerge Stronger
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Interim President: Madhav Nepal
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Upendra Yadav Is Going To Lead The MJF ...
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): The Implications Of A Split In The MJF
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): MJF: No Harm Done
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): The MJF Must Stay Intact
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Is A Consensus Government Possible?
Phone Talk With Madhav Nepal, Hridayesh Tripathy

Image by paramendra via Flickr

Democracy For Nepal (DFN): K.P. Oli
Madhav Nepal, Commander Of The Movement
Madhav Nepal
Madhav Nepal Out In Open
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Is An All Party Government Possible ...
April Revolution: Document Every Atrocity
madhav nepal needs to make a move
Federalism: Four Layers Or Three Layers
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): Koirala Has To Be Beat At His Own Game
Nice And Easy: President Nepal
What Is Gachhedar Thinking?
Democracy For Nepal (DFN): The MJF Drama

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Karma Sherpa And The NYC Program For The Prime Minister

I just got off the phone with Karma Gyalden Sherpa. It was a half hour conversation.

Karma has been my favorite Nepali in New York City since I showed up in town a few years ago. The Madhesis have to seek an alliance with the Janajatis to achieve equality in Nepal and the Nepali diaspora. He is not one of those "Bahun ko jhola bokne" Janajati/Madhesi, his phrase. I like that about him a lot. He has a warm personality. He has a high emotional intelligence. He has been running the largest, most vibrant Nepali organization in New York City for a few years now.

I missed the meeting yesterday evening where the Adivasi Janajati Mahasangh and the UNDF tried to work out the details for the Prime Minister's program on the 25th. I might have been late: it was to have been my fourth event of the day (Nepali Picnic, Poetry Festival, Science House MeetUp). And I also ended up at the wrong location. But I did meet someone who was on his way back from the meeting. I debriefed him on the sidewalk by the Satya Narayan Mandir in Jackson Heights.

I talked to Tek Gurung on the phone an hour before I talked to Karma. It has been decided Karma will chair the event, and Tek will give the welcome speech. I think that is a happy middle ground.

I also wanted to ask for five minutes of speaking time, but before I brought up the topic Karma said he had made a few decisions as chairperson. One, the emcee will only announce the names of the speakers, otherwise sometimes the emcee's introductory speech ends up longer than the speaker's, there will be few speakers, maybe four or five, each speaker will have a strict time limit, and mostly the program will be a question answer session. The floor will be opened to the general public. He said among the few speakers there will be one Madhesi, one Dalit, only one Janajati. ANTA has been asked to furnish the Madhesi speaker. And that the entire event will be live streamed worldwide on the web.

I said I was very happy with the arrangement, that he had thought everything through. I dropped the topic of seeking five minutes for me. I am happier that I will get a minute during the question and answer session. I am also going to try to meet the Prime Minister at the Columbia University event a few days before that.

Karma and I talked about many other things to do with Madhesi and Janajati rights besides this one event. We concluded by agreeing what the Janajatis of Nepal need is their own political party.

To: The Nepali Ambassador to the UN

Your Excellency Madhuji.

As the president of two organizations Hamro Nepal
(http://hamnep.googlepages.com) and Mission Madhes

(http://missionmadhes.wordpress.com,
http://madhesi.blogspot.com/2009/08/mission-madhes-constitution-draft.html,
http://madhesi.blogspot.com/2009/08/mission-madhes-2.html), as one of
the most active Nepalis in NYC since my arrival in town in the summer
of 2005 (http://nycnepali.googlepages.com), as the only Nepali in
America to have worked full time for Nepal's democracy and social
justice movements (http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com), as one of the
top Obama volunteers in all of NYC in 2007 and 2008
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=99952&id=621599484&l=095de686ea,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=99978&id=621599484&l=5a94b9a0bd,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=99990&id=621599484&l=f9ccef2b45,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100004&id=621599484&l=b7f8684eb7),
and as a personal friend of the Prime Minister
(http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2009/05/time-to-rally-around-madhav-nepal.html,
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2009/05/madhav-nepal-would-be-great-choice.html .... please find attached an email he sent me a few days before he
became Prime Minister), I would like to request five minutes of
speaking time at the Prime Minister's event on the 26th.

Thank you.

As to ANTA, this is what I said to a friend a few days back.

There are more than 3,000 Madhesis in America. Of those less than 100 are members of ANTA. We have to go beyond ANTA to grow Mission Madhes. Can we get 500 members? That is what we need to ask. I urge you to start with making a list of all Madhesis you personally know who are in America, and get them to work on similar lists.

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20 Districts In MPRF's "One Madhes" Republica Kanchanpur, Kailali, Bardiya, Banke, Dang, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Chitwan, Parsa, Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha, Saptari, Sunsari, Morang and Jhapa.

Paramendra Bhagat
to chitiz
Aug 25

Tekji.

My bio data.

Paramendra Bhagat is president of a digital democracy organization
called Hamro Nepal that has the largest Nepali mailing list in the
world at over 8500 members. He is now working to launch a global
organization called Mission Madhes. He was one of the most active
Obama volunteers in all of New York City in 2007 and 2008. He came to
the US for college in 1996. Within six months of landing he got
himself elected student body president at the number one liberal arts
college in the South, a record in college history. In Nepal before
that he had been Vice General Secretary to the Nepal Samajwadi Janata
Dal that had split from Gajendra Narayan Singh's Sadbhavana. Hridayesh
Tripathy was General Secretary and Rajendra Mahto was a central
committee member. He runs a blog called Democracy For Nepal that you
might have heard of. He worked full time for Nepal's democracy and
Madhesi movements in 2005, 2006 and half of 2007.

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 10:52 PM, chitiz tamu wrote:
> Parmendra jee,
>
> I would like to wel-come you from Madhese as a speaker on the topic of "New
> Constitution and Burning Issues of Nepal" on Aug 30, Sunday at 11:30 P.M.
> Yak Restaurant, Jackson Height. Please send me your your bio-data within 5
> to 7 sentences.
>
> Thank You,
> Tek Gurung

Nepali Diaspora: Rethink Time?

America has a special place in the world, and so it does among the Nepali diaspora. The ANA convention that takes place every July 4 weekend, this year in San Francisco, is an event thousands of Nepalis from all across North America make a point to make a pilgrimage to. It is landmark social event. Many look forward to it for good reason. I don't think I will make it, I will likely stay put in New York City, but the oncoming event has made me think again about some of the issues I have thought about before. Why should Nepalis in the diaspora get organized? To what end? How? How much progress have we made? Without expressing disrespect towards those who did the early work, how can we ask the tough questions and level the tough criticisms that will help take our diaspora organizations to new heights?

(1) Homesickness/Bonding

I think the number one reason we talk so much about Nepal in the diaspora is homesickness. It is self interest. Bonding has to happen. The identity has to be claimed and nurtured while the dollar chasing goes on.

(2) Cream Of The Crop

Even those who are not super duper educated are entrepreneurial to have left Nepal. It takes much initiative. Much is asked of those to whom much is given. The diaspora seeks to give back. I think the best giving back would be if the diaspora could invest big time in Nepal. I hope the leaders in Nepal create such an environment. I am for both the service and the profit motive.

(3) Immigrant Rights

Immigrant rights are far behind where globalization has already taken us. We try and get organized to make our modest contributions to the cause of immigrant rights.

(4) Networking

We can help each other out. We can share expertise and experiences. We can pool resources. Although it gets me that not enough of us have gone for hard core entrepreneurial pursuits. It helps our careers here in the diaspora when we network among ourselves.

These are some of the reasons why we need organizations like the ANA. But I have to be honest about something as a Madhesi. To be a Madhesi in the Nepali diaspora is like being a Madhesi in the Nepal Army, or the Nepal Police or in the state bureaucracy in Nepal. You represent a community that is anywhere between 35-45% of Nepal, but is less than 1% of the Nepalis in America. I think it is more like 0.1%. I have felt much more at home giving my time to digital activism for the Madhesi Movement back in Nepal than I have mingling with the Nepalis in America, especially when you routinely encounter the prejudice, the chauvinism, the attitudes, the whole nine yards.

Good thing in Nepal we have a constituent assembly for the first time in history, and we are working to reinvent the Nepali identity because, so far, the Nepali identity has never been inclusive of me and people like me. Maybe the new Nepali identity we will create will.

But then it is that same dissatisfaction that also helps me see the stark fact that the Pahadis on the global stage are powerless like the Madhesis on the national stage in Nepal. Maybe we can empathize with each other. Maybe we can seek and find common cause.

Democracy, Transparency, And The Nepali Diaspora
Alliance Sets The Tone For Diaspora Organizations
White Paper: A Major Diaspora Milestone
A Nepali Diaspora Milestone
Ram Sah: Concern Over State Excesses, And Diaspora Politics
Ram Sah, Ratan Jha, Lalit Jha, Pramod Kantha: Madhesi Diaspora, Pahadi Diaspora
Dalit Diaspora Calls For 20 Percent Reservation
Those In Nepal Should Take The Lead On Logistical Help From Diaspora
Diaspora Dynamics
Diaspora Logistical Help To The Movement
The Nepali Diaspora Contradiction: Would You Like Some Tea?

Some of the deficiencies of our organizations are that:

• They seem to have no desire to go mass based. There is too much living room politics going on.
  
• Too much elitism. No major membership drives. Elected officers end up from the same small group of people who all know each other. It is like a game of musical chairs.
• Not enough transparency and democracy within the organizations.
  
• Not enough use of Web 2.0.
  
• Our sights are too low. There is seldom talk of immigrant rights.
  
• No reach out to create a larger South Asian, Asian solidarity. Too much inward looking.
• Not enough constructive, respectful engagement with our counterparts back home. You can't help people you look down upon.
• The few umbrella organizations are in name only. Most organizations act autonomous. Not enough talk, not enough coordination.
  
• I absolutely don't see the Beer Gorkhali thing on immigrant rights. We almost never bring that up as a topic.
  

I think progress on all these fronts would start with injecting democracy and transparency in the way we operate our organizations. And then we will have to lift our vision to seek equality for us in the diaspora. We will have to forge alliances. We will have to claim the Blac identity, Black Latino Asian Coalition.

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