Needed: Dynamic Agreement, Concrete Eight Party Alliance
Pumping Money Into The Movement
A fundraising mechanism has to be set up that will help the Nepali diaspora across the world to raise money and send it to the seven party alliance for this decisive phase of the movement. I am writing this down after elaborate talks with many key people. And this stays open source. Modifications can be made along the way so as to strengthen the mechanism.
The 1990 movement is the reason there are so many Nepalis across the world, making money, getting educated, working at major companies. Before that average Nepalis could not get their passports made. Now is payback time. Nepalis abroad, even those living in democracies, can not be free unless Nepal is free. Only a vibrant democracy in Nepal can fuel the political fights of the Nepalis abroad, be it for voting rights, or to break up the glass walls and ceilings that prevent them from reaching their true potential as human beings. Funding the movement in Nepal is self-interest for the diaspora in more ways than one. It is about fighting the lack of citizenship in Nepal, but also in other parts of the world. You got to organize, you got to raise funds, and you got to polish your message. That is how you acquire the political power that earns you your rights, your dignity. Freedom is not free. Put your money where your mouth is.
Most diaspora organizations are social and cultural in nature. Their charters prevent them from making political donations. But time is limited. And so we have to bypass those organizations and forego the idea of launching new organizations. This is the time to collect money in small circles of people you directly know, and to send money like you do for your family. This has to happen in America, in Europe, in Japan, in Australia, in Malaysia, in the Arab countries, and all across the world. The effort has to be supremely decentralized and clandestine, but the book keeping has to be world class. The mechanism has to be established, and it has to be perfected over time.
We have to create the fundraising mechanism with a sense of detachment that it could be comfortably replicated also by other democracy movements in other parts of the world. Book keeping is not a trust issue, it is a professionalism issue. The highest standards have to be followed. Democracy is free speech, and accountability in government and many other things. The movement for democracy itself has to be democratic.
Seven Party Alliance
The alliance has to form a committee of seven members that will oversee the funds. That committee will open up one or more bank accounts in Delhi since we don't want the autocrats in Kathmandu to seize our funds. Each such bank account will be such that three people must put their signatures down to take the money out. Those bank account numbers will be circulated among the diaspora. Small groups of individuals will raise money and send directly to those bank accounts. Key people in each country will be sent a regular newsletter that will detail the book keeping, as to how much money has been raised and spent. Digital copies of bank papers from both ends are to be collected and matched.
The alliance will create clandestine mechanisms to send money to Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal.
Google Talk, MSN Messenger
We have to use these two to stay in touch. About 100 of the most active Nepalis in the diaspora as well as in Kathmandu should all have access to these two instant messengers. MSN Messenger makes conference calls possible. Google Talk has great voice quality. The safe houses in Nepal should have them. The Nepal Center in Delhi has it. Key people in New York City are cued in. Voice chat is free. And it is safe. The regime can tap phones, as it does. But voice chat can not be tapped.
Granted most of the seven party leaders and even the student leaders are not there yet in terms of comfort with technology, we have to divy up the responsibility. Let there be a team of techies who take care of all the technology. Let the leaders only have to worry about talking and listening. Get Girija Koirala on Google Talk. Let's hear him. Get Madhav Nepal on Google Talk.
This is also great for the diaspora activists. For those in Nepal, it might be a safety and cost issue. For those in the diaspora it is a time issue, a geography issue. Online is only place we can meet with ease and as often as necessary.
Voice chat could make possible some sophisticated coordination.
Safe Houses
We need about 10 of those in Kathmandu to keep all our top organizers underground, safe, and working full time. This is war with communications technology, not war with guns, but war nevertheless.
There is no point in getting arrested. If you think you might get arrested and are a top organizer, go underground until the day of the final, decisive protest.
Satellite Phones
Arresting our leaders and cutting their phone lines have been the primary ways they attack, and they have promised to attack again. Safe houses are the counter measure for the arrest weapon. And we need to pump some money into satellite phones.
Intense Polarization, Confrontation
Now is the time.
Worst Case Scenario: Mass Arrests, Curfew, Military Crackdown
We have to be prepared for that. We have to create and sustain a sophisticated communication structure come hell or high water.
If the king might go for an ugly endgame, the country will still go for a constituent assembly, but it will declare itself a republic first. The 1999 House will be declared the revolutionary parliament. That will adopt an interim constitution. That constitution will turn Nepal into a republic, it will command the army, and it will start by purging the army top brass of all the king's men.
The interim government will consider top priority bringing to justice villains like Kamal Thapa. They stand to lose both liberty and property. All the Rs. 50,00,00,00,000 worth of corruption over the past four years will have to be accounted for. Individuals who have looted the people's money will pay back.
In the worst case scenario, the king meets Kamal Thapa's fate.
Dialogue From A Position Of Strength
But we have to be open to the dialogue option: dialogue from a position of strength.
The king trying to break up the seven party alliance is not dialogue, that is confrontation, and we hit back. The king inviting some leaders for talks while keeping many others arrested is not dialogue, that is confrontation, and we respond likewise.
If the king takes the sensible route, he will still be king while the interim government takes the country through a constituent assembly. But it is for him to decide if he wants to go down that route.
Truth And Reconciliation Commission
No matter which route we go, there is no avoiding such a commission.
Kamal Thapa
Kamal Thapa - Nepali Times
kamal-thapa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
eKantipur.com - Nepal's No.1 News Portal
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