Democracy For Nepal

Monday, January 23, 2006

Those In Nepal ShouldTake The Lead On Logistical Help From Diaspora

It was a working lunch at Sanjaya's place for Anil and me. We started at around 1 PM and went on for hours, not the lunch but the talk which was rather expansive. Considering we have been plotting against the regime, we can't really help it, can we?

I was expecting rice, daal, curry, the usual stuff. But instead Sanjaya's wife surprised us with delicious momo. When the second round of momos came in a big bowl, I offered to serve Anil. He refused. He said he will serve himself since in a new Nepal the Madhesi should not be serving the Thakuri.

"I was just worried you, a Thakuri, might take more than your share," I retorted.

We each took turns saying what we had come to share. We all have been worked up since the curfew announcement in Kathmandu. We had to meet if only to unwind. The morning of the curfew Sanjaya called up people in Kathmandu to ask for details. They were instead asking him for details on Kathmandu since some of them had not been able to surf the web, and were holed up indoors and were not able to go out and see what it was like in the streets.

I remember he called me! "Do you have any new details?" I first learned of the arrest of the Sadbhavana people from an email he forwarded to me that he had received from Kathmandu. (Repressive Measures Intensify In Nepal Against Democratic Movement)

Anil spends numerous early morning hours trying to catch up with the situation.

We thought up many different scenarios, and discussed as to what we can do to help better, how the diaspora can be more effective, and we also discussed how those back in Kathmandu could be more effective. We made a realistic assessment of our reach. There is only so much we can do, only so much we can hope to influence. There are parameters within which we have to work.

Anil had an elaborate plan for how the movement could roll out over an extended period of time. We all decided that despite the shortfalls of the seven party alliance, our focus should be more on the future agenda of the movement and not much on specific personalities.

Sanjaya made an important point about offering logistical help to the movement in Nepal. About pamphleteering he said let the eight student organizations come up with a plan and a proposal and a formal request for money. Let them take the lead so they will have a sense of ownership from the beginning to the end. We should not send the money as well as the plan. Or we will end up disappointed. And money should only go for paper and ink.

I thought that insight was an important addition to my relentless push over the past few months that moral support is not enough, logistical support also has to be extended.

After I got back I emailed Sanjaya requesting him to donate to Mero Sansar and Blogger Nepal directly. They are requesting donations, and their work is out there for the world to see. These two bloggers are an example to the eight student organizations who might take the lead on the pamphleteering project.

We inevitably ended up discussing the volatile Madhesi issue. Sanjaya likes to tell me Gonu Jha stories or at least hints of them to prove he is also a Madhesi, a Parajuli Madhesi. He is from Siraha, he is dark, he has spent quite some time in Delhi.

After I got back, I wrote this: मधेशी अधिकारको कुरामा पहाडीहरुको सहभागीता.

We are all going to the rally in DC on Suday. There are rallies being organized in some other cities as well. I like this mass based approach.

And of course there is the event on February 1 in downtown Manhattan. Kanak Mani Dixit and the International Crisis Group guy are showing up. The ICG has written some of the best reports on Nepal this past year. (ICG Report On The New Alliance, ICG Report On Maoists, Beyond Royal Rule: An ICG Report, ICG Report: Lasting Peace, The ICG Report)

Visitors

22 January