Sunday, November 06, 2005

Pahadi Says Goal Is Democratic Republic



94 photos.

Video clip 1, Video clip 2, Video clip 3.

Krishna Pahadi November 6 Sunday 5 PM

Krishna Pahadi, in his speech in Jackson Heights, said his fight will only end after Nepal becomes a democratic republic. He said he was willing to make any sacrifice for that ultimate goal.

He pointed out there was a major grassroots sentiment in support of his goal, and he has felt it in his travels across the country. He asked the Nepali diaspora to extend its full moral support to the movement in Nepal. His message, speak up for us.

He is also set to speak at New York University Tuesday evening.

The crowd in attendance was as big as the crowd for the seven party gathering. (Seven Party Forum In Jackson Heights)

Pahadi has a very pleasant personality. And he speaks fluently, in a singsong way almost. What he had to say sounded very much like what Gagan Thapa had to say. They both made a clear case for a democratic republic, and both said they are willing to pay the ultimate price for it. (Gagan's Talk In New York)

He wears orange. That is one of his trademark things.

If you showed up early for the program, you got to see the video of the civil society mass gathering in Basantapur, Kathmandu. Then Samudaya showed its own video, which was like the video Aandolan Jari Chha. Then there was poet Parajuli reciting his poems, the video of his program in Kathmandu. I bought a DVD of it. $10. A big chunk of the money goes to the movement in Nepal.

We need to upload all these videos on Google Video. We can charge $1 or $2 per view. That way we reach a larger audience and raise more money. And we plough back that money to produce more videos of the street demonstrations. The more video footage of street demonstrations from Kathmandu and all over Nepal that the global audience sees, quicker will be the resolution. The whole idea is to get hundreds of thousands of people out into the streets so as to sway global opinion. We need to become our own media. We need to put hours and hours of video online. The more the better.

This has to be a movement with zero martyrs. Noone should have to die. Noone died in the orange revolution of Ukraine in 2004. That is also my goal for Nepal. People should not have to die. Not the king, not peaceful demonstrators. Noone. Period.

And you massively reduce the chances of extreme forms of police brutality by showing it all to the global audience.

Many poems were recited.

The program started late.

Pahadi is an amazing speaker. There is this smoothness to both his logic and delivery. As I said, he sounded like an older version of Gagan Thapa.

I told him in person that this movement has produced two heroes: him and Gagan Thapa.

I helped fold up some of the chairs and put them away after the program ended. A bunch of us also had to agree to take home some of the leftover samosas. First I said no. Then I said yes. What the heck, I thought.

My final question to Pahadi was on federalism. He said that is a second step issue. There are still discussions going on if to go for decentralization or outright federalism. He has a right to his viewpoint, but that was an answer I did not like. I feel as strongly about federalism as he does about a republic. But then we settle that issue during the constituent assembly.

And I listened to Deepak "Nepe" Khadka on the train all the way to Penn Station where he got off. There is some kind of a Google group called Nepal Democracy. He has been trying to get me to join the group. It is supposedly a whole bunch of who's who types, like Kul Chandra Gautam and all. But it is a closed group. I think I tried to join, but received no response from the moderator. The frat house is busy and noisy, looks like.

Nepe is a hard core republican. He recited a poem of his own, a gazal. He is a good writer. Nepe is a college classmate of Pahadi, I learned. I told Pahadi I had the same thing going on with Dinesh Prasain, who he addressed as "Dineshji."

We have to push the seven parties for internal reforms, but we can not be hard on them like we need to be hard on the king and the Maoists, especially the king. The seven parties are our political leaders. The seven parties, and the youth represented by Gagan Thapa, and the civil society represented by Krishna Pahadi are all part of the same stream.

This movement has forged an amazing global Nepali solidarity. It is almost like America after 9/11.

I took a whole bunch of pictures.

I am sure the audio clip of Pahadi's speech will be online soon at the Samudaya site.

Ever since I got into town I have been trying to get Dr. Binod Sah of Janakpur to launch the NYC chapter of the ANTA. So far to no avail. Today we realized neither of us have the other's current phone numbers. And today we made some headway. He has invited me to come to his place. It is important to float the ANTA banner in town. Madhesi pride is at stake.

Dr. Tara Niraula teased me about me no longer sending him emails. "Have you taken me off your mailing list?" How could I? It is just that I refrain from emailing people too often. But now Niraula just sent the wrong signal. He is going to start getting a bunch of emails from me.

I have known Mridula Koirala and her husband independent of each other. Today Mridula introduced me to "my husband." And she sang a classic revolutionary song beautifully. I don't think Anil and Sanjaya can sing.

Sanjaya's son was creating a major ruckus, before, during and after the program. He was on the floor right next to where I was sitting. So I took a few pictures for evidence purposes.

Tilak Pokharel of the Kathmandu Post asked me if I recently met Bill Clinton. Answer: yes. "Me too," he said. He said he was going to use his press pass also to meet Amitabh Bachchan in a few days. I tried to talk him into taking me along. He said it was hard enough for him alone. That guy is one step ahead of me.

Anil's wife was part of the walk to the train station. When I said the movement should conclude in a few months, she said I was being optimistic.

Before the program began, I thought I was getting a picture taken with Pahadi, but Pahadi is looking the other way. I have my palm on his shoulder though.
at No comments:

House Revival Stance Preventing Progress


Seven Party Forum In Jackson Heights
Girija's House Revival Fantassy
October 2, 2002

The king can not revive the House. He will not revive the House. Looks like the Supreme Court can not either. And this is a Supreme Court that has not been the king's lackey. It is a court that has consistently gone counter to this regime on important questions of basic rights. The Court can not make political decisions. It can only interpret the law. And looks like it has interpreted that the 1999 House can not be revived. And if that be the Court's interpretation, that only reinforces the king's stand that he does not have the contitutional option to revive the House, which I agree with. But then I also think everything the king has done since his appointment of Chand as Prime Minister has been outside the 1990 constitution. The 1990 constitution died the day Chand got appointed.

Folks, the House can not be revived. And the 1990 constitution is dead. Face reality.

There was major talk that the people are going to come out into the streets in large numbers after Tihar. Well, Tihar has come and gone. The people are at the ready. It is the party leaders that have refused to work towards clarity.

Unless the seven parties offer clarity, this movement is not going to take off.

You start with the conclusion. All three forces are for a constituent assembly. After 2/1 the king also said he is for a constituent assembly. Actually the king expressed his support for a constituent assembly before the Nepali Congress and the UML did.

The Maoists, the king, and the seven parties are for a constituent assembly. All three have also expressed the opinion that an all party government should be formed for such a venture. Those are two major points of agreement.

And then the disagreements start.

How do you form that government? I am open to all options. If the seven parties want a revolution that will first overthrow the monarchy before an all party government is formed, I am for it, but I can not be for it first. The second option is the movement option. You get large numbers of people out into the streets and pressure the king into forming an all party government. The third is to go talk. Take a seven party delegation, go meet the king, and demand an all party government.

All three options lead to a constituent assembly, which is the good news. That is what the Maoists want, that is what Gagan Thapa wants, that is what Krishna Pahadi wants.

But Girija will not take any of those three options. That man through his idiotic stance of House revival has done more harm to the country than three Rana prime ministers put together. If he is for a House revival, he should at least offer an action plan. How will the House be revived? Who will do it? The Supreme Court? The king? If it is to be the king, what article in the 1990 constitution will allow him to do it?

King G could not stop the movement. Tulsi Giri could not. Pyar Jung Thapa could not. But Girija is preventing the movement from taking off.

Folks, the House revival stance has to be ditched. The country has to go straight to an all party government.

Untie the knot. Let go the House revival stand.

Moriarty's Note Of Concern

Alliance Of Steel

I think Moriarty over-reacted to the parties talking to the Maoists, and the seven parties over-reacted to the Moriarty statement even more.

Moriarty did not warn. He cautioned. And nothing he said goes against anything I have said about the Maoists here at this blog all along.

What I appreciate about America in Nepal's context is that that is one power that will make sure the Maoists do not take over Nepal militarily and set up a communist republic. It is that bulwark that makes it possible for someone like me to fearlessly seek all political options to bring the Maoists into the mainstream. Minus America, I would have had to worry more about what Moriarty spends a lot of time worrying about, and with none of his resources.

The Maoists are going to stop being an armed group down the line. And they are going to ditch communist republic as a goal. They have already done both things. It is just that they need to be engaged so they can do what they intend to do. That is all.

Moriarty is not saying stop talking to the Maoists. He is saying, talk, but do so with caution. Be realistic, have yardsticks to measure as progress gets made. And there can be no formal alliance as long as they are still an armed group. That has always been my stance.

In The News
at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)