And
Now, Nepalis Say- Ya Basta!!!
By Pratyush Chandra
11 April, 2006
Countercurrents.org
"But
today, we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We are the inheritors of the true builders
of our nation. The dispossessed, we are millions, and we thereby call
upon our brothers and sisters to join this struggle as the only path,
so that we will not die of hunger due to the insatiable ambition of
a … dictatorship led by a clique of traitors who represent the
most conservative and sell-out groups…For hundreds of years we
have been asking for and believing in promises that were never kept.
We were always told to be patient and to wait for better times. They
told us to be prudent, that the future would be different. But we see
now that this isn't true. Everything is the same or worse now than when
our grandparents and parents lived. Our people are still dying from
hunger and curable diseases, and live with ignorance, illiteracy and
lack of culture. And we realize that if we don't fight, our children
can expect the same. And it is not fair. Necessity brought us together,
and we said "Enough!" We no longer have the time or the will
to wait for others to solve our problems."
How honestly these words
represent the Nepalese people's struggle for freedom and democracy,
for self-determination. But the people who uttered these words lived
very far from Nepal, and perhaps the majority of them knew nothing about
the Nepalese people and their struggle. These were the words of the
Zapatistas declaring war against the Mexican state from Lacandona Jungle
(December 31 1993). (1) They expressed the sentiments of not only the
Mexican Indians but of everyone who are waging the "struggle that
is necessary to meet the demands that never have been met by [the] State
[in their region]: work, land, shelter, food, health care, education,
independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace".
On April 9, the 4-day general
strike in Nepal was supposed to end, but it continued. An activist said,
"The Nepali people want the king to abdicate and he needs to go.
There is no other option, otherwise the country will continue to see
riots and demonstrations."
Guardian further reports,
"On the border with India, hundreds of demonstrators stormed government
buildings to declare Nepal's Chitwan district the kingdom's "first
republic". Troops later drove them out. It has also been reported
that students in smaller towns have taken to the streets with the slogan
"death to Gyanendra"."(2)
The New York Times quotes
the editor of the Nepali Times who wrote, "As we write this on
Sunday noon, public anger is boiling over…This is a surprising
uprising: even without the parties, neighborhoods have got together
to set up road barricades, stoning police and pouring out into the streets
to defy curfews. Each day that passes, the pro-democracy chariot is
picking up momentum."(3)
This saying strangely connects
once again the struggles on the two corners of the globe with each other.
Well-known Marxist Harry Cleaver noted in 1994 in his Introduction to
'Zapatistas! Documents of the New Mexican Revolution', "Today,
the social equivalent of an earthquake is rumbling through Mexican society.
Every day brings reports of people moving to action. Campesinos [villagers]
and Indigenous peoples completely independent of the EZLN [Zapatista
Army of National Liberation] are taking up its battle cries and occupying
municipal government buildings, blockading banks, seizing lands and
demanding "Libertad." Students and workers are being inspired
not just to "support the campesinos" but to launch their own
strikes throughout the Mexican social factory."(4)
A prominent pro-democracy
and peace activist, Mathura P Shrestha (a retired professor and former
Secretary of Health, aged 72), arrested for endangering the security
and sovereignty of the country poses Lokatantra (full democracy) against
formal democracy in his interview to Lucia de Vries, "Lokatantra
is the rule of the people. Nepal was democratic until four hundred years
ago. People didn't vote but they talked until a consensus was reached.
Only the powerful voted… What I am researching now is how the
dictatorship of the proletariat can be transformed into the rule of
the proletariat. If a constituent assembly is properly elected we can
establish the rule of the people. I do not think ceremonial monarchy
goes together with lokatantra…"(5)
But the US State Department
still chants, "The United States calls upon the King to restore
democracy immediately and to begin a dialogue with Nepal's constitutional
political parties. It is time the King recognizes that this is the best
way to deal with the Maoist insurgency and to return peace and prosperity
to Nepal."(6) It refuses to acknowledge that insurgency is general,
just backed by the Maoists and democrats. India too refuses to listen
to the unrest in Nepal and demonstrations of solidarity in its own streets.
But, again stealing words
from Cleaver, "[L]earning to listen is not always easy, even today.
To clear the way, we have to learn to cut through the "noise"
of official discourse, to recognize and avoid debates over how to "solve"
the crisis within the old frameworks. We have to learn to decode the
official jargon, to cut through the euphemisms that cloak the "business
as usual"."(7)
On April 8, "the rallies
occurred on the 16th anniversary of Nepal's first pro-democracy movement,
when the present king's brother and predecessor, Birendra, accepted
demands for parliamentary elections. Political activists say the king
needs to "understand the public".(8) Officially three people
died in Nepal in police firings, and Nepalese Home Minister vows, "We
will get stricter now to preserve law and order and keep the situation
normal" (9), as the general strike becomes indefinite.
The Nepalese Royalty's intransigence
has proved at least to the Nepalese people, what Baburam Bhattarai said
in his reply to the International Crisis Group in 2003, "Laat ko
bhoot baat le mandaina" (the devil of force won't listen to persuasion).(10)
And, today the Nepali says
in her own way: YA BASTA! Enough is enough!!! A protester told Reuters
news agency, "We are not afraid of bullets, we have to get democracy
at any cost and we will get it."(11)
References:
(1) 'The Revolt' in 'Zapatistas!
Documents of the New Mexican
Revolution', Autonomedia, 1994,
http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/Zapatistas/01.TXT
(2) Guardian (April 10, 2006),
'Bloody clashes as Nepal police battle
protesters',
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1750381,00.html
(3) The New York Times (April
10, 2006) 'In Nepal, Death Toll Is 3 as Protests Continue',
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/world/asia/10nepal.html
(4) Harry Cleaver's 'Introduction'
in 'Zapatistas! Documents of the
New Mexican Revolution', Autonomedia, 1994,
http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/Zapatistas/INTRO.TXT
(5) "The longer the
struggle lasts the better it is for us",
International Nepal Solidarity Network (April 7, 2006),
http://66.116.151.85/?p=3008
(6) The US Department of
State (April 10, 2006), Press Statement: A
Message for the King,
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/64295.htm
(7) Harry Cleaver's 'Introduction'
in 'Zapatistas! Documents of the
New Mexican Revolution', Autonomedia, 1994,
http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/Zapatistas/INTRO.TXT
(8) Guardian (April 10, 2006),
Bloody clashes as Nepal police battle
protesters,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1750381,00.html
(9) BBC (April 10, 2006),
'Violent clashes amid Nepal',
curfew'http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4894474.stm
(10) Maoist Information Bulletin
- 5 (September 28, 2003)
http://www.cpnm.org/new/English/documents/bulletin-5.htm
(11) BBC (April 9, 2006),
'Clashes erupt at Nepal protests'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4892424.stm