Saturday, July 09, 2005

Monsoon Break


I guess the next few months will be slow politically. Because of the monsoon. Not empty, but rather slow.

This the parties should make use as homework time. To marshall and polish their political positions.

I urge the political leaders to study the South African example of the Constituent Assembly process. The Monarchists are nowhere near as tough as the apartheid people in South Africa. And as long as one stays engaged and respectful, progress is possible.

This document might be of help.

In The News
  • Mao's Doctrine Attractive To Poor and Powerless In Nepal Voice of America .... Baburam Bhattarai ... seems to emulate young Vladimir Lenin .... Nepalese Maoists are offering a vision of a more equitable society, which is most appealing to poor and disenfranchised people..... people who were disempowered not only for a short period of time, but for a long period of time .... more than 80 percent on less than two dollars a day .... Maoists were in the political process. They were in the Parliament until 1995, but a small party. Then they walked out saying that nothing is happening .... land reform, equality for women, equality among caste .... It’s a small country, but imagine disappearances number one in the whole world for two years in a row .... More than 13-thousand village development committees have been destroyed about a dozen district level government offices have been damaged, over seven thousand schools and many factories have closed down. Transport and communication facilities have been destroyed and several multi-national companies have been attacked.... Nepalese people are desperate for peace even if it takes negotiating with terrorists.
  • We are with Nepal: Indian leaders Kathmandu Post, Nepal Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and former prime minister I K Gujaral to Finance Minister P Chidambaram to Janata Dal United leader Nitish Kumar... visiting Nepali Congress (Democratic) leader Gopal Man Shrestha
  • SC warns govt against arbitrary arrests "warned" the government against unlawful and arbitrary preventive detention and arrest of citizens, reminding the latter of its commitment to national and international laws guaranteeing people's civil and political rights.... in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Legal Aid Project of Nepal Bar Association on behalf of Sonam Tamang and Radip Lama, both from Ramechhap.....
  • King is sliding: Krishna Pahadi The king has only negative agendas, which will make him unsuccessful in the days to come. Even Hitler's regime collapsed due to his negative agenda in the past .... some journalists, human rights activists and lawyers, who know their existence is possible only in a democracy, are also being seen supporting autocracy ..... CP Mainali .. The parties have already realized their past mistakes and are moving toward a progressive approach, including restructuring the nation ...... Student leaders Gagan Thapa, Rajendra Rai and Badri Pande also spoke
  • NC Siraha conference revoked revoked the election of district party president that had unanimously elected Sita Devi Yadav to the post .....
  • ‘Monarchy neither constitutional nor autocratic’ Kathmandu Post Giri argued that the county was facing a crisis because of the futile attempt to take monarchy and multi-party democracy together as the two pillars .... charged that political parties are on a mission to defame the monarchy, and are distancing themselves from possible negotiation with the king..... "Somebody might have told Camp there is no democracy in Nepal. I told him that political parties are not banned, the press can write critical news. Do you think there is no democracy in Nepal?" he questioned. Camp then argued there was no freedom in Nepal. "If you think there is no freedom when everybody has enjoyed their rights, then I am sorry," he claimed to have told Camp. "Camp also told me there is no parliament. On this I posed him the question, 'Do you think there was parliament before February 1? Who dissolved the parliament? Camp had no answer to that," he said..... "There are two schools of thought regarding this. The first school says it was good to arrest those people, while the second has an opposite argument. Now, the second argument is getting stronger."


    • Government is sleepwalking Kathmandu Post Ensuing Dr Giri's name in the black list of bank defaulters, the government has remained eerily mum on the subject of the code of conduct due to be announced..... In the eyes of common people the government turns into a laughing stock with its credibility nose-diving...... this government is sleepwalking… hence, does not hear NBL's high decibel alliteration that Dr Giri has defaulted the loan he had taken from the bank for the plastic company twenty years ago..... he not only defaulted with the bank loan but his company has also not paid the taxes since its operation and the salary of the workers remains unpaid till date totaling to millions of rupees .... In a similar instance of defaulting with a bank loan a businessman was arrested recently in Biratnagar. ..... The euphoria of the February 1 move is slowly dying away as people could not see the promised change even after five months..... People simply distaste Dr Giri now. But the King's dilemma is he may not be en-amoured to Dr Giri, but it might be his difficulty getting a replacement that is a political basher and swears fealty too.

    • Nepal king fights a losing battle against graft Gulf Times, Qatar Transparency International Nepal, there is hardly any area in the government and private sectors that is free of corruption. .... the Nepalese monarch, despite his assertion, may be losing his battle against corruption. ..... now with increased political heat on King Gyanendra, his pledge to tackle corruption is also behind questioned

    • Nepal Maoists conspired with Al-Queda and Lashkar-e-Toiba or was ... India Daily, NJ these people came through Nepal. They had Chinese made arms, Korean and Chinese clothing and lot of cash ..... this one is an organized covert operation of some sophisticated organization. ..... Lashkar-e-Toiba may have carried the act but were helped by the Maoists through the Al-Queda links.....

    • Gorakhapatra reverts to old name Kantipur Online coincides with the birthday of King Gyanendra..... newspaper used "Gorkha Patra" as its masthead when it began its publication in 1958 B.S. The name was changed to "Gorakhapatra" in 1983 B.S..... will use an image of Lord Ganesha as logo on the top of its front page. The slogan "Committed to the Nation, Nationality, Crown and Democracy" will be placed right below the logo..... Rising Nepal, Madhuparka, Muna and Yuva Manch

    • Nepal's ruler: Despot, democrat or deity? World Peace Herald, DC speculation that the king was considering a formal ban on political parties. .... The king's advisors insist he also wants dialogue with the politicians, but without preconditions and on his own terms..... As for the rebels, his aim seems to be to quash them with military power, though the task is proving extremely difficult. .... after each incident the rebels melt back into the mountains and jungles to regroup for another skirmish. ..... "The situation has not improved since the king took power," said Tara Nath Ranbhat ..... The regular army has no idea how to fight with guerillas. In the armed conflict no side is winning.... he has no intention of restoring democracy to Nepal but, with the backing of Hindu groups in India, intends to establish himself as an absolute monarch and the global leader of the Hindu faithful ..... In 2003 India's Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or VHP party, bestowed upon King Gyanendra the title of World Hindu Emperor. ..... Singhal also proposed that Gyanendra call a world Hindu convention in New York to "project Hindus as a global power." ..... "We cannot imagine Nepal without a monarchy," said Ranbhat. "By tradition the people regard the king as divine. But one man's thinking cannot create a future."

    • Nepal warns soldiers against abuses World Peace Herald, DC the army is investigating what he described as alleged extra-judicial killings and would punish those found guilty. ..... More than a hundred soldiers have been jailed, dismissed or demoted over the past three years.....

    • Nepal warns people to prepare for flooding, landslides Hindustan Times, India

    • Euro 2.8 mn for Maoist cradle in Nepal NewKerala.com, India .... fund is largely meant for the Dalits

    • As the world's rich meet, India's poor struggle on Reuters.uk, UK India joins the G8 table for the first time .... its racing economic growth, among the fastest in the world, often masks the almost unimaginable poverty .... "I see children who have more flies on their bodies than clothes. One meal a day is terrific. Two is unthinkable. But the sense of urgency to fight this is completely lacking." ..... by the global definition of earning a dollar a day, that figure jumps to about half the population -- more than 500 million, larger than the entire population of the European Union..... She earns about 600-700 rupees a week from her two or three regulars -- "all gentlemen" -- including her truckdriver "husband" when he can spare time from his regular family..... The middle class has exploded to more than 300 million, by some estimates, who send their children abroad for an education and are buying second family cars in a country where not so long ago the wait for even just a motor scooter was a few years..... But the gains are unevenly shared and have largely bypassed the rural and urban poor.

    • Let a thousand radios bloom Nepali Times, Nepal ..... since India doesn’t allow news on FM, we shouldn’t either.... The print media is allowed to get away with extremely critical content. Private tv stations are broadcasting news unfettered, Indian news channels are back on cable. And despite the blocking of two popular websites last week, the Internet is totally free.

    • UML Convention, Baburam In Trouble Nepali Times Mohan Bikram Singh, general secretary of CPN (Unity Centre) has quoted Baburam Bhattarai as saying he and his supporters are at risk of being killed. At a secret meeting with party workers in Kathmandu on Saturday, Singh said that Bhattarai told him during meetings in New Delhi that he was worried about himself and his followers’ security. “They are not safe,” Singh said. Bhattarai told Singh that even through he had been sent by the party to cultivate diplomatic relations with India he had not been reinstated to his earlier position. Bhattarai parted ways with Singh, his political guru, in 1991 and joined the Unity Centre. The meetings between the two communist leaders, who have been sharply critcal of each other, comes at a time when both are in minority within their respective parties. Singh and Bhattarai are said to have met four times in New Delhi. The Maoist leader said that the party took action against him and Dinanath Sharma for contacting Singh........ CPN (UML) cadres have suggested the party leadership go for a decisive agitation without being trapped in what they call “talks ploy of the royal palace”. That was the conclusion of the district and zonal committees of the party. The UML is preparing for its central committee meet beginning 10 July.

    • Yield Samudaya

    • Constituent Assembly Analysis Friends For Peace .... comparative peace processes, security sector reform and international relation specific to conflict..... the people were never involved in the process of constitution making as is the case with other successful democracies of the world...... restive youths and students who are raring to go for republican system of government ..... In Nepal the extraconstitutional tendencies are very strong...... the conceptual and theoretical aspect of constitution-making; experiences and lessons on constitution-making in different parts of the world with special reference to conflict-ridden countries; imperatives of new constitution in Nepal addressing the Maoist insurgency; and operational brief of constituent assembly if the country agrees to adopt a new constitution through an elected constituent assembly...... South Africa is the most recent example in constitution making. It faced a lot of hurdles and deadlocks. But minimum consensus was reached to resolve the differences. Mechanisms like constituent assembly, interim government, multi-party negotiating forums were created to smoothen the various phases for constitutional transition...... Until 1958, the demands for constituent assembly
    were potent. But King Mahendra's announcement of the date for the parliamentary election in 1959 dampened the hopes of the people...... monarchy has suffered massive erosion of trust and the republican agenda put forward by Maoists is getting popularity among the common people, especially the youths...... Federalism has become a part and parcel of restructuring the state .... The constitution can offer only certain principle institution or processes as a framework but it cannot ensure good behaviour among the principal actors...... A constitution that is drawn up without popular participation will have little resonance in the hearts and minds of the people who are its final guardians....... Until recently the Maoists and the ethnic groups were the chief demanders for constituent assembly...... Not only the government, but the entire state is in disarray..... The constitutional political process is no longer in existence..... The King remains the only authority and state affairs depend on him. However, while the image of the monarchy is now at the low ebb, the republican appeal is growing..... what difference it will make as the actors at the political arena remain the same .... Many people even seem to view it as a panacea..... structures of the government, governing processes, separation of power, location of sovereignty, freedom of people, limits of state and government .... since a decade and a half ago when intra-country conflicts began to predominate over conflicts between states, there has been a significant shift in the concerns and focus of the constitution. Ethnic and cultural dimensions have begun to assume more prominence. There is growing international concern and consensus that the values related to ethnicities, languages and cultures, which were long thought of as ‘divisive threats’, are now “an inescapable feature of the landscape of politics in the 21st century” ..... ethnic and cultural constitutional concerns also aim at making democracy more inclusive and participatory..... New constitutions may be the outcome of the emergence of new nations out of old empires or colonies; of the renewal of existing states into new structures; of revolutions that overthrow old regimes. It may also be a negotiated settlement or compromise between prevalent political forces..... There are some countries – notably the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Israel – that do not have a single written document referred to as ‘the constitution’....... constitutionalism is a stage of constitutional development where there is no requirement for a forceful overthrow of the regime to meet the changing aspirations of the people...... modern constitutionalism, which originated in the eighteenth century and was based on equal treatment of law, all pervasive and centralizing concept of sovereignty and the ‘assumption of homogeneous liberal values’, is now found to be deficient in meeting the diverse cultural aspirations for self-government.’ ...... the political developments of the world over two and a quarter centuries have unequivocally reaffirmed that the constitutional system which contradicts the basic principles of democracy or aims at controlling the genuine will of the people is bound to collapse...... United States, India, South Africa and Kenya .....US .. one of the oldest surviving and well-functioning constitutions of the world..... South Africa presents a success story of transforming violent conflict into a peaceful political process through a new constitution making process....... The most popular way of creating a constitution is by the participation of the people through constituent assembly....... reading through the texts of the constitutions relating to the power of monarchy in countries such as Belgium, Norway, Denmark or Sweden, one may receive the notion that much of the constitutional processes in these countries still rely on the discretion of the king or queen. But in practice this is not the case....... The purpose of a constitution in a democracy is to provide a peaceful and legitimate opportunity for the people’s aspirations for change....... the present constitution of Switzerland was framed and adopted in 1999..... The United States of America is generally referred to as the first country in modern times to frame and adopt a constitution through the constituent assembly....... The US Constitution is the shortest and the most rigid constitution in the world..... After more than half a century of its operation and more than one hundred amendments, voices continue to be raised in India that the constitution in its present form “cannot serve the purposes” and that as even amendments, both major and minor, cannot change its essence, there is “no choice left except to replace it by a new constitution” ..... When the African National Congress under the leadership of Nelson Mandela and the white-minority racist regime led by President F. W. de Klerk agreed to end the protracted violent conflict through negotiation based on mutual reconciliation, a new series of constitutional principles and methods came up....... There were many conflicting groups and voices within each camp..... Today South Africa is widely referred to as an example of a successful conflict resolution which heralded a new compact and amicable relationship between hitherto warring parties. It is also seen to have provided a model of constitutional transition..... transition had two phases: During the first phase from 1993 to April 1994, the multi-party negotiation process drew up and agreed on constitutional principles, the interim constitution, the unity government and defined ‘consensus’ as the principle of decision- making. The MPNP was a most complex and delicate affair, which had to be frequently rescued from almost total breakdown. During the second phase, from the election of the constituent assembly in April 1994 to the final adoption of the constitution in March 1997, not only was the final constitution successfully drawn, but enough opportunities were also provided for people to voice their opinions. This ensured that the people could claim ownership of their constitution. The second phase was much easier than the first because much understanding had been built up during the first-phase negotiations....... the South African negotiations were less between the government and the rebels, than between and among different forces represented by their respective political parties....... a general consensus formula ..... where it was not possible, a pragmatic approach called ‘sufficient consensus’ was adopted as a method of resolving deadlock....... negotiations produced a 34-point list of ‘constitutional principles’ which all the constitution-makers had to abide by ..... The Constitutional Court saw to whether these accords were properly followed in the draft constitution...... an interim constitution was adopted in 1994. This provided for the election of a 490-member Constituent Assembly to frame a new constitution by the elected representatives of the South African people. Both men and women were guaranteed equal representation in the assembly....... South Africans were quite content with ‘non-ethnic regional federation’ ...... The voters’ turn out was quite impressive, about 86 percent. The assembly had to simultaneously function as a national legislature....... the public education campaign of the constitution- making process reached up to 73 percent of the population. ...... Ninety-eight percent of Constituent Assembly members approved the constitution....... hectic and protracted negotiations ...... The job of the Constituent Assembly was relatively easy because basic constitutional principles and structures were already agreed upon...... The South African case thus shows that some basic constitutional principles can be adopted usefully by the Constituent Assembly as binding principles during the process of framing a constitution. This ensures that the constitution-making process is smooth, as many fears of involved parties will already have been addressed....... When the government failed to respond to popular aspirations for changing the constitution, the people of Kenya established the People’s Commission in June 2000 by means of religious communities, professional organizations, civil society and opposition political parties. The government then responded and joined the current constitution-making process....... the review failed to materialize due to the political parties’ intransigent approach to the formation of the review commission...... The constitution-making process in Kenya over the years was so popularized and created so much enthusiasm among the people that it would be virtually impossible for the government to backtrack or delay the draft for long. However, the Kenyan experience suggests that it is easy to draft the constitution through a professional and competent body such as the Commission but extremely difficult to get it through a popular, elected parliament, where political lobbies are more interested in short-term gain than in genuine long-term constitutional considerations....... Another major weakness of the Kenyan exercise is that the whole process lacked political backing and leadership......... political understanding and consensus among the major players is a necessity before a country decides to undertake the creation of a new constitution......... In 1958 King Mahendra, declared that he would hold elections for Parliament based on a new constitution to be framed by a team of experts appointed by him2 and thus ended the debate over the Constituent Assembly....... 1960 ... The King declared that the parliamentary system was fundamentally ‘unsuitable’ to Nepal and so the sovereignty ..... of the country was to be vested in the King and “all powers - executive, legislative and judicial [were to] emanate from Him” ...... The student agitation in 1979 flared up beyond control and King Birendra announced a national referendum ...... The 1990 constitution suffered a crisis of ownership from its very inception...... the 1990 Constitution became a ‘document of mistrust’ among the major political actors, including the monarchy....... The spirit as well as the very foundation of the constitution was shattered when the army failed to comply with the government, when the latter decided to move the army against the Maoist insurgency in July 2001 in order to rescue the abducted police personnel at Hollery, Rolpa....... In July the Maoists insurgents raided the Police Post in Hollery, Rolpa and abducted 70 out of 72 police personnel stationed there, killing one and seriously injuring another. A meeting of the National Defense Council decided to mobilize all security organs and accordingly recommended to the King to deploy the Army to rescue the police personnel. Military personnel were dispatched and the government claimed that the security forces had cordoned the area where the Maoists had kept the abducted police personnel and were “prepared to for advanced action” (Gorkhapatra, July 18, 2001). There were appreciations of the valor of the Royal Nepalese Army as well. But, later on, it was revealed that the Army had reached Hollery, remained there for only a day and returned back, and the Government had not even been informed of this properly. It was also reported that the Army and the rebels had exchanged letters and reached an agreement not to attack each other (Space Time, July 20, 2001). As a result, Prime Minister G.P. Koirala resigned in a helpless condition (Nepal Press Digest, July 19 and 26, 2001)...... The constitution does not anticipate a government without the parliament .... The exercise of article 127 of the constitution had thus become the inevitable result of the constitutional deadlock....... The premature dissolution of the House of Representatives in May 2002, failure to hold elections as scheduled, King Gyanendra’s takeover of executive power, the dismissal of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on October 4, 2002 and the King’s wish to play a ‘constructive role’ are all interrelated and form part of the sequence of events that suggest that Nepal’s experiment with the 1990 constitution has come to a dead end........ the monarchy has exposed itself as being against the constitutional system and prefers to deal directly with the other extreme – republicanism, taking advantage of the international collaboration against ‘terrorism.’ ....... The October 4 step and subsequent actions and expressions by King Gyanendra have once again intensified the fear of the revival of absolute monarchy....... he also made it explicit that he would exercise the “maximum role that the King can play” ...... the politics and democratic experiment in Nepal have reached a very complex and conflicting situation...... His dismissal of party politics and the desire to prevail politically has been expressed on several occasions......... . the entrenched organizational presence of the Maoists all over the country ...... the direct confrontation between major political parties and the assertive monarchy....... The Manifesto of Nepali Congress (1950) declared for the first time: After the present regime has been ended, the Nepali Congress will call a council or an assembly of the people’s representatives elected on the basis of adult franchise. The same council or assembly will be given full responsibility to frame the constitution of the democratic state of Nepal or any law related to the state affairs..... .King Tribhuvan proclaimed on February 18, 1951 the formation of an interim government. The Interim Constitution promulgated on April 11, 1951 stated: The aim of Interim Government shall be to create conditions, as early as possible, for holding elections for the constituent assembly which will frame a constitution for Nepal...... In 1958, when four major political parties were engaged in a civil disobedience movement demanding the declaration of an election date, King Mahendra cleverly manipulated them by announcing the date of election for February 18, 1959 without specifying whether it would be for the constituent assembly or the parliament, and brought the movement to an end....... According to an understanding between the government and the opposition parties, which had occurred before the voting on the endorsement of emergency proposal took place in Parliament in 2002, the government was to initiate the constitution amendment process...... By the time the major political parties such as the Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) had prepared their agenda for constitutional amendment, and were about to initiate the amendment process, the House of Representatives was dissolved. ........ due to the complacent attitude of the established political leadership and the growing assertive role of the King ....... the stand of the top leaders of these parties continues to be ambiguous. It seems they are avoiding a clear stand and commitment towards constituent assembly....... If we take the opinion page of the national dailies as an indicator, we find that these pages are full of writings pleading for constituent assembly....... ethnic autonomy, right to self-determination, federalism, proportional representation, reservation, multilingual policy ........ Everybody, including the government, the major political parties, the Maoists and ethnic groups concede that the present structure of Nepali state is highly deficient in reflecting the socio-cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity of the
    nation........ Decentralization, proportional representation, reservation of quotas, regional autonomy and federal structures ........ each of the monarchs of this period projected himself as the ultimate savior of the nation. ........ The mainstream political parties are pressed by their youth wings to adopt the republican agenda....... The Nepal Sadbhavana Party and Janjati parties, along with various ethnic groups, have opposed the unitary political structure and demanded a federal system since the beginning of 1990 ....... The major political parties are not even open to debate on the idea of federalism in Nepal. They rule out the idea as divisive, disintegrationist and totally unwanted........ . they have come with regional autonomy as an alternative....... The major thrust of the ethnic movement in Nepal is to redesign the Nepali state in a way that would bring down the dominant high caste groups to their size and allow the ethnic groups a rightful place in the national political mainstream........... Ethnic demands in Nepal are not separatist and secessionist........ Federalist lobbies seemed to have increased in the mainstream political parties. Central level leaders of these parties belonging to various ethnic groups, are now publicly advocating for federal political structures in Nepal ........ As an alternative to federal structures, mainstream political parties stress the necessity of ending discrimination based on religion, language and culture, and advocate equal access to government through alternative regional structures with decentralization, without explaining what its principle and modus operandi would be........ The major political parties are thus very vague about ethnic issues, and avoid any specific commitment to autonomy......... the hill high caste groups, which constitute about 30 percent of the population, occupy more than 60 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives, whereas hill dalits, who consist of more than 7 percent of population, except one seat in the 1991 Parliament, have no representation at all........ the First-Past-the-Post system ..... even a candidate scoring less than 20 percent of votes had chances to be elected....... various ethnic and cultural groups are now raising voices for the right to self-determination. They consider that the present state is an imposition on them....... since the country is rapidly ‘drifting towards republicanism’ the possibility that the future constituent assembly will have a republican majority cannot be ruled out........ Reports from the Maoist-controlled areas also suggest that they have no tolerance towards dissent.......

    • Maoist Trade Union Press Statement

    • Tigers training Nepal's Maoists Hindustan Times, India French trainers are providing training to Nepalese rebels in Uttaranchal, in districts like Tanakpur, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar....... the Maoist leader admitted that Nepal's rebels had joined hands with the Indian outlaws to attack a police station and two state-owned banks in Bihar last month

    • Tamil Tigers training Nepal's Maoists: Report NewKerala.com

    • Tamil Tigers training Nepal's Maoists: Report PeaceJournalism.com, Nepa

    • Madhav Nepal Challenges Royalists Himalayan Times, Nepal Madhav Kumar Nepal today said the seven-party alliance would stop talking about constitutional monarchy if the royalists, insist on choosing either "democracy" or "active monarchy"...... "The conflict between monarchy and democracy can be resolved in peaceful manner through a referendum"

    • Maoist suicide squad member captured, camp busted Outlook (subscription), India ollowing which a militant training camp deep inside forest was raided and a huge cache of firearms, explosives and detonators were seized ..... Several landmines, detonators, naxal literature, computers, army uniforms, television sets and compact disks were seized from the camp

    • Bihar to keep an eye on doctors treating Maoists Kantipur Online, Nepal reports that Nepali Maoists have been crossing the border regularly for medical treatment..... Bihar police arrested eight Maoists from a private nursing home in Muzaffarpur ..... The eight were injured during gun-battle with security forces in Udaypur in eastern Nepal last month, according to rebels’ accounts given to the Bihar police..... we have decided to keep a watch on the medical institutions

    • Verdict on Melamchi scam likely tomorrow The royal anti-graft body said that the investigations regarding the Melamchi scam has already been completed..... The commission, in its preliminary investigation report had stated that approximately Rs.380 million has been misappropriated in the awarding of the contract for the construction of road in the project.
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Friday, July 08, 2005

The Road To The White House Goes Through Nepal


(..... written for DFNYC, more specifically The Lower Manhattan Democracy For America MeetUp Group, whose meeting I attended a few days back in East Village. I also went to the after meeting of all the DFNYC MeetUp Organizers in the city ....posted at the Message Board ...)

The Republicans have the White House, the Congress, the Supreme Court, and a majority of the state governments. You have a Republican Governor in California on the "Left Coast" and a Repubican Mayor in the "Liberal Capital" New York City. If this is not a low point for the Democrats, I don't know what is. I recently read a LA Times article that compared the Democratic Party to General Motors, and the Republican Party to Toyota.

It is time for some reality check. Things are not okay as they are. And it is time for some fundamental reorientation.

I have toched upon this topic before: The Three Pillars. And I hope to elaborate upon that much more.

But something new has showed up that I am very closely involved with: the civil war in Nepal. I am involved for emotional reasons: I grew up in Nepal. But I also think Nepal offers a great opportunity to the American progressives.

John Kerry lost over Iraq.

The War On Terror is the same magnitude as the Cold War. If you are going to imitate the Labor in Britain during the Cold War, espousing unilateral disarmament, you are not going to win.

But then after that my disagreements with the neocons start.

The American progressives should be at the forefront of the idea of a total spread of democracy on the planet. That is the only thorough way to fight terror. Everything else, including spending upwards of 200 billion dollars and thousands of American lives, and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, is half-hearted, and frankly a doleout to the military industrial complex. You end up with a corporatized war where the poor kids die and big "pharma" makes money.

I feel the American progressives need to adopt Nepal. To say, we are going to spread democracy but we are going to do it the sensible way. Instead of $200 billion in taxpayers' money, we will maybe spend a million or two raised in the private sector. Instead of sacrificing American lives, we are going to fund the local democrats in their non-violent agitation. Instead of military technology, we are going to bathe the country with communications technology so as to provide the maximum support to the movement for democracy in the country. And with blogs and digital photos, we are going to document everything online, all deliberations and actions, so as to inspire similar movements in the neighborhood.

Proposed Constitution
Reorganized UN, Methods
Wiki: Shape The Movement

The progressives need to become more "militant" about the idea of a total spread of democracy than the conservatives. You can not fight and win on domestic policy alone. You have to offer an alternate vision on both fronts.

I think without this fundamental reorientation, the Democrats do not much stand a chance. The 2006 Congressional elections, and the 2008 race for the top prize. Both could be lost all over again.

Summer is monsoon time in Nepal: heavy rains. But after that the movement for democracy is expected to snowball. Will the American progressives step in and help and do themselves a favor? That is the question.

Nepal can be turned into the Democrats' Iraq.

The tide can be turned.

In The News
  • 21st century belongs to multiparty democracy: Crown Prince NepalNews .... both our countries recognise the people as the strength of the Institution of Monarchy and the Institution of Monarchy is totally devoted to the service of the people. We in Nepal know well that the twenty-first century belongs to peace, human rights and multiparty democracy, to serve in the interest of which we are committed and duty-bound...... rid the world of the ensuing socio-cultural problems and create a global society in which different cultures and civilisations can co-exist in peace and harmony ..... many companies involved in environment-friendly technologies.....
  • Dr. Giri declares his property ..... has said he has no mobile and immobile property in the kingdom of Nepal..... he had left Nepal in the eighties after late King Birendra introduced reforms in the then partyless Panchayat system
  • Ayodhya attackers came via Nepal: Report ... terrorists who attacked the famous Ram temple in the Indian holy city of Ayodhya on Tuesday .... During these four days, they were coming to Ayodhya every day from Kichuala for a recee of the area
  • RNA To Manufacture Military Equipment Kantipur .... “additional efforts” were being made to manufacture necessary military equipment to make the army self-reliant
  • People ultimate power of monarchy: Prince Paras Nepal and Japan recognized the fact that people were the ultimate power of the royal institutions in both the countries.
  • Royal move for meaningful democracy: Army chief “The Maoists are weakening physically, mentally and morally each passing day,” he said “Because of their defeated mentality they have started targeting families of security personnel.”
  • Battered Nepal Seeks Foreign Aid Hindustan Times .... foreign aid, tourism, and remittances having been badly hit after the royal takeover .... Gyanendra.. also faces a decline in his personal assets with the sliding economy..... his direct involvement in manifold business ventures had ‘considerably declined’ since he became king...he has large stakes in almost every sector of the country’s economy, including transport, tourism, hotels, power, tea, tobacco, FMCG, automobiles and construction, any in collaboration with Indian companies. He also heads numerous trusts, none of which have been audited ..... the Soaltee Hotel Ltd., Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd (tobacco), Himal Internaitonal Power Corp (the first privately funded power projects), Sirpadi Trading Pvt Ltd., Himalaya Goodricke Pvt Ltd., Maersk Nepal Pvt Ltd., Himalayan Helicopters, Amravati International Ltd. (consultancy in pharmaceuticals, chemicals) and Amravati Travels Private Ltd. His active business partner is Prabhakar Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana...... The palace has an annual budget of Nrs 60 crore, most of it spent on renovation and upkeep of palaces and lifestyle maintenance. The budget was hiked four-fold from Nrs 15 crore per annum in 2003.... Hotels reported that occupancy in peak tourist season dropped by over 50 per cent. Garment export, a big source of revenue, saw a year-on-year decline of 50 per cent. Domestic sales, especially FMCG and durables, are showing significant signs of decline and the leading ad agency reported a drop in revenue of 80 per cent in February 2005.
  • Tulsi Giri: Monarchy Or Democracy NepalNews .... Strengthen either monarchy or democracy, not both: Dr. Giri .... “Even if the parties ignore the King’s call, the nation will move ahead” .... the multi-party system was not at all necessary for democracy ..... “Democracy means freedom. Freedom to speak, vote and expression and they are possible even without the multi-party system.” ....
  • King Gyanendra's Royal Splurges Tribune News Service .... the luxurious splurges by the royal palace..... In 2002-03, the royal expenditure was 38.79 crore Nepalese rupees. Of this, around Rs 3.18 crore were spent on the King, the Queen and royal family members. A sum of around Rs 35.73 crore was spent on palace affairs, security and maintenance of the palace secretariate...... A royal ordinance was promulgated during the tenure of the Lal Bahadur Chand government (after the dismissal of the Deuba government on October 4, 2002) which amended an existing law..... This empowered the King to enjoy discretionary powers over making any changes on royal household budget on his own. The government had no control over such changes and thus the royal financial withdrawals remain beyond scrutiny...... In 2003-04, the royal palace took out Rs 14.2 crore from the state treasury to purchase three new luxury cars. This amount is over and above the government’s budgeted expenditure of Rs 32.9 crore allotted for the royal palace in 2003-04...... In 2002 also, the palace had withdrawn from the state treasury Rs 8.7 crore to buy two imported bulletproof cars..... In October, 2004, the Nepal government released 90,000 pounds (Rs 1.2 crore) to Princess Helen Shah for her medical treatment...... There have been many other instances of extra appropriations over and above the budgeted amount, including Crown Princess Prerna’s wedding in January, 2003, King’s health check-up in London and Crown Prince Paras purchasing a Harley Davidson motor cycle for $30,000...... King Gyanendra has no reason to be wholly solely dependent on the state treasury as he has wide-ranging well-oiled business interests in a number of hotels, banks and other industries. The flagship of the King’s business empire is Soaltee Group which has two investment companies - Soaltee Enterprises Private Ltd and Surya Enterprises Private Ltd. The other companies in his group are in hydropower, agriculture, transport, market research and shipping.
  • Consensus Of A Deeper Convenience Rewati Sapkota, Delhi. INSN Deals were apparently struck in 1950 and 1965 in Delhi by kings Tribhuvan and Mahendra respectively, which set back the Nepali democratic movement by decades. Information about the latter deal became public only in 1980..... rumours were desperate attempts by the military to scuttle a possibility that they foresaw — an alliance between the mainstream parties and the Maoists .... the first time that the mainstream parties have accepted the possibility of working with the Maoists in an equal alliance ..... The Maoists also asked the seven parties to frame their slogan for the agitation, keeping in mind the needs of a Constituent Assembly, complete democracy, and multiparty democratic republic...... With the journalists, lawyers, students, workers, and other mass organisations already in protest against the regime in Nepal, the political atmosphere is charged. There is little possibility of those who ally with the palace being able to retain their legitimacy in the long run..... The coup of February 1 has drastically changed the complexion and grammar of politics in Nepal..... Till now, it has been customary for a handful of families and platoon of donors to assume that Nepal belonged to them. It will be difficult for these segments to give up habitual modes of thinking. They are left now with little option but to either throw in their lot with the king and his illegitimate rule, or swallow their reservations and accept political needs of the moment...... There are also hardliners among the Maoists who have been brought up on a diet of class enmity. These sections will find it equally difficult to give up their ingrained practices..... whether Nepal sinks under the burden of its feudal elite or stays afloat in a polity whose buoyancy is ensured by its inclusiveness.
  • Printer's Devil Gets The King Anil Bhattarai HardNews news items exposing the financial scandals of the king’s family members and his cabinet members, and opinion pieces openly arguing for the questioning of the very relevance of monarchy in Nepal, among other critiques, have made their place in the print media nowadays.... fierce and remarkably creative resistance ..... almost all the print newspapers and magazines carry ‘Press Freedom for Peace and Democracy’ under their editorial page in every issue..... king’s rhetoric about “nationalist education” was nothing but an attempt to teach schoolkids the “glorious past” of the royal past...... “Without re-establishing the rule of law..freedom of the press is a mere chimera.” ... king does not seem to be in any mood to back down. And, more importantly, the resistance that political parties have put up has been a bit feeble.
  • A 10-day Trek Across The Maoist Heartland Suman Pradhan Kantipur A lean middle-aged man with a baseball cap raised his hands to stop our jeep.... It was difficult to tell that this revolutionary was once the biggest businessman of Musikot, routinely trading lakhs of rupees in commodities and supplies..... Comrade Prashant, a central committee member .... was once a student of Govinda Raj Joshi in Tanahun .... “The Shining Path failed when Comrade Gonzalo misread the international situation. He could not take advantage of the contradictions in the international situation at that time. Without taking such advantage, he mounted a last-ditch attempt on Lima and failed. We are not making that mistake. We know the international situation and are determined to take advantage of it before we make the final push.” ...... whether other parties were allowed to contest, etc, etc. “Of course they can contest. Not as parties but as independents.” ..... despite all the rhetoric, parties could contest only if they accepted overall supremacy of the Maoists and their Janasatta. ....the similarities between the Panchayat-era elections and this election ..... the expression on the locals’ faces. It’s not fear or even concern, but rather stoic acceptance, even resignation. They all seem to say: The satta is here to stay. You can’t fight it, so accept it and carry on with your lives..... we have cooperative shops here, agricultural communes, Janabadi schools and now we are building the road .... As the local village chief, Inkar is also the judge in the local Janaadalat. “I have to combine many roles” ..... meeting with dozens of young men and women in the Maoist army, militia and party, the irony was stark. Very few we met had studied up to SLC. Most had dropped out in grades 5, 6, 7 or 8..... “I could not study in school because the police and army kept harassing me. So I joined the party to fight oppression.” ..... the party had asked each family from within Rolpa to send one member to work for 15 days on the road. It was the worker’s responsibility to bring his/her own food for the duration...... “A degree of forced labour is required if the road is ever to be constructed,” Ratna said as we kept trekking. “People won’t organize themselves until you force them to.” .....
  • Recognizing The True Obstacle To Reconciliation by Madan Prasad Khanal Scoop ... Camp expressed Washington’s concern at reports that Nepalese Maoist leaders were meeting mainstream politicians from Nepal and India on Indian soil...... Despite the lifting of the emergency and the release of most detainees, many curbs on liberties remain in force...... his takeover is an unpleasant albeit temporary measure aimed at reactivating a democratic process eroded in large part by conflicts and contradictions within the political establishment...... the palace’s efforts to bolster internal cohesion and raise the kingdom’s international profile between 1960 and 1990 .... The contradictions are painfully obvious. The mainstream alliance demands the revival of the last House of Representatives, dissolved by the last elected prime minister exercising his constitutional prerogatives. The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of the dissolution. A political class whose endless bickering prevented a single House of Representatives since 1991 to complete its full five-year term is struggling to define how reviving the legislature would help end the conflict...... The two largest parties in the mainstream alliance simply want avoid facing a fresh popularity test because they recognize that realities on the ground have changed. The “democracy” excuse has come in handy to cover their real intentions: a return to power on the back of Indian intervention..... The mainstream alliance knows well how much violence and instability Nepalis would face when the Maoists infiltrate their movement and prompt a government crackdown.
  • Constitutional Expert Dismayed At Generals Holding Forth On Constitution And Rule Of Law NepalNews ... quoted ancient Rig Veda as saying that law is the king of kings..... “Gone are the days when an individual would run the country through a decree” ..... Quoting Napoleon’s famous saying “He who thinks is my enemy” ... The emergency was imposed only to avoid protests from the political parties.... this government is afraid of an independent press
  • Gov Bans Double Passenger Motorcycle Ride In Kathmandu UWB ...yet another public unfriendly decision... . not to allow second person sit on their machine
  • Giri: I Have Not Resigned UWB A rumour has been circulating in Kathmandu since yesterday that has caught the capital city like a wild fire
  • King Birthday Protests UWB ... some 5 hundred pro-democratic students converged in New Baneshwor and burned the effigy of the head of the state.... Prominent student leaders like Gagan Thapa and Ram Kumari Jhakri led a rally that was interrupted by the police at least three times ..... Jhakri was famously lathi charged by the police a year and half ago when she was participating in a rally organized against the regression. At that time, photographers caught her severely injured and blood flowing out from her head..... Krishna Pahadi, prominent human rights activist who was recently released after more than 5 months in detention warned the monarch to listen to the people. “Monarchy has deliberately chosen the path of self-immolation,” he said. As he was saying this, a police officer was keenly taking notes standing side by side with other reporters......
  • Giri: Either Monarchy Or Democracy UWB .... among constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy, only one can reign. .... choice between active monarchy and democracy .... Like all our political parties who despite loud voices from students leaders to go for republic have been maintaining the need of monarchy ..... India is saying that constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy is two pillars for Nepal (Giri questioned India’s stand saying if they can go with one, why can’t we)..... And as a man grown up reading ‘king is our god’ phrase, I can’t imagine what it would be like without the monarch. Maybe that’s because I have rarely thought of Nepal without monarchy..... I need to think from a new angle, I need to begin from the territory I have never been before
  • Tulsi Giri, United We Blog And Bleak Future Of Nepal UWB .... waved them with three pages of documents: Printed form of a UWB post that appeared on this site on Monday. The post had mentioned about T Giri’s planned and semi-secret type of hobnobbing with journalists...... venue, Deepak Bohora’s house ..... Dr. Giri’s house, about 150 meters away from the Bohora residence..... Bohora, general secretary of Rastriya Prajantra Party (RPP) .... effort to introduce two generations with each other..... Giri started his conversation stating that he couldn’t ignore request made by Deepak Bohora to meet journalists..... he asked for Dinesh Wagle. Is here Mr. Dinesh Wagle? ..... Then he read out the UWB blog, written by Wagle, refuting words after words, disagreeing with sentences after sentences, countering the essence of the blog and terming it “an unethical thing to do.” He said that the information should not have been revealed. “This is unethical” ..... “I am not a rhino,” he said. ..... “I am not doing a PR.” .... “I am not doing this to get favorable coverage in future.” “This is not necessary for me. I don’t care what media writes about me.” ..... after reading out the date, time and venue info, “Look, Dinesh Wagle does not know that the venue has changed.” .... “Hum…anyone of you who asks me lots of question, will be that person who revealed this meeting” to UWB. ..... I found scribes in a shocked and awed condition seeing Dr. Giri reading out the blog content. Many of them did not know what a blog was and had not heard about UWB...... he never left his hard-liner stand over the issues. He answered almost all questions, even the most difficult ones, with smile in his face..... “We are eagerly awaiting the day when you again become Prime Minister.” Then Giri replied, “Tapaiharu ko mukh ma dudh bhat jaos.” ..... He repeated that he was totally against democracy. But then he also said that RPP should be strengthened to counter democratic parties like Nepali Congress and CPN UML..... Tired Tulsi Giri Feels Plunged Into A Mess Tulsi Giri in PR Campaign Wagle responds: “Ma Gainda Hu. Alochana le malai kehi garna sakdaina.[I am a rhino. No criticism can do any harm to me.]” .... You changed the venue, at the last minute, from Deepak Bohora’s house to yours. Even those journalists who were invited there were keeping that as a secret. I somehow managed to know about that and instantly blogged....... Do you know that what you eat is bought by our money, Nepali taxpayers money? Do you know that the rent of the place where you lived is paid by Nepali people’s money...... You to the pillar of autocracy and I to the pillar of democracy. Transparency and dissemination of information are the key in democracy. I know your autocracy frowns upon them..... Rumor is that the anti-establishment faction within RPP is actively involved in forming a party in your leadership.....
  • Tired Tulsi Giri Feels Plunged Into A Mess UWB .... forsook Bisheswor Prasad Koirala, founding president of the largest democratic party Nepali Congress and joined the partiless autocratic Panchayat system in 1960..... such person who had sacrificed so many years in strengthening and consolidating democracy in Nepal could mortgage his ideology for partiless autocratic system..... left Nepal in 1986, became a staunch christian and lived an apolitical life in Sri Lanka and Banglore...... Sita Ram Prasai’s house, where Dr. Giri has been living on rent ..... Dr. Giri’s residence was surrounded by barbed wire.... how insecure Dr. Giri feels.... Dr. Giri seems to have tired of pulling a heavy load of restoring partiless autocratic system after 12 years’ of democracy in Nepal. He said it was just an accident he came to Nepal when King Gyanendra took executive power in February 1 2005. “I was really happy and living a peaceful life in Banglore (India). Now I am plunged into a mess. I feel restless. But I am committed to fulfill the order of the king” ..... he left the country not because he was against the adult franchise. It was a difference on political system, he had with the then king Birendra ...... “It was a partiless democratic system, we were trying to experiment whether or not parties are required in democracy” ..... I thought partiless democratic system can’t function when there is adult franchise. I decided to leave the country so that I would not be an obstacle for the system. And my decision was proved right. Ultimately, the system collapsed because of that reason...... It was crystal clear for me, what Dr. Giri has in his sleeve. He is again trying to experiment that partiless “democracy” in Nepal....... there can’t be autocratic monarchy nor constitutional monarchy. “Both these forms of monarchy are the perverted forms of monarchy. Monarchy is monarchy” ..... Nepal should have only one pillar between constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. “India has only pillar -it is multi-party democracy. We should also make our only one pillar strong. The conflict is on which pillar to make strong” ..... “The government is committed to hold elections for municipalities and the parliament election will also be held in three years period” ..... “NC has now 30 per cent of total vote whereas RPP has only 18 per cent. And my mission will be to secure 30 per cent of total vote to RPP and 18 per cent to Nepali Congress” ...... looked to have been bitterly hurt by The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur daily ..... “You know I can take any action against Kantipur and the Kathmandu Post through this letter. But I won’t do anything because the Jesus says vengeance is mine. So I have no any vengeance.” ..... “I wasn’t aware of the loan and now I am negotiating to settle it” ..... he said there are many pubs, many buildings and everything has changed .... I felt Dr. Giri is really tired and is fed up of the changes that have come as big obstacles for him to fulfill the king’s mandate. He wants to resume his happy and peaceful life once the king permits him. “But you know, I won’t return to India though Kantipur has already asked me to leave Nepal” ..... the UWB post stole the show
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