BE READY TO BE FOOLED THIS MANGSHIR!

Well, we are coming just off the Bill O' Reilly abuse of our fellow Sudarsan Thapa. He is ignorant, you may say, enough to pull ofF such a lame joke; but you will never find him telling this election at Nepal is going to be a comic show. Otherwise, he will sadly be telling the truth which he is not so known for.

I don't  know how we come to be so credulous to believe in our leaders, to vote them again and again to the echelons of power, to see them fall again, and to vote them back to the pinnacle of power and see them do the same. It is the 'charisma' of election based democracy in the 3rd world country.It blinds us, it feigns at us pretending to give every one of us with undeniable power to choose, but the reality shows our choices have revolved around a very few. The past 20 years are enough to prove the point. It was not elections that brought the Maoist into power. Every time a revolution has had to be in place to make Nepalese realize a new legitimate political force was born or dismissed. Lets do election another score of time and still we will revolve around the same sets of ideals and ideologues. It rather seems a party convention plays more critical role of bringing in new leaders.In a lifetime, an average person may vote up to 8 times, provided regular elections happen. It seems that is not enough for us to realize what is happening is a recurring dream. I sincerely hope we could catch that abuse in the first show just like we did with that O' Reilly's bullshit.

The defeated mentality of us and our leaders plays a part in every subservient move we make. Like a down in confidence player does whatever practice drills the coach says to be back in the team; our leaders, who fell out with India or somebody else at some point of time, do the 'practice drill'- the CA-II. I know there is no option now that we have chosen CA as the form of making constitution. Going back would mean destabilizing the achievements of 2063 B.S. revoultion. But in the mean time,  failure of another CA ensure will ensure the same. However, it is amazing how the intellectuals, the media, and the leaders have turned their blind eye to this possibility.

So, why they have ignored this possibility? Especially, when we have done nothing new to change the final result. The reason is more apparent than what it seems to be. Our fellow top leaders must have been trained by the 'coach' to a certain set of constitution already. The Madheshi parties concluding 'Ek Madhesh Ek Pradesh' is no possibility, the UCPN Maoist's ex PM BRB saying that ethnic federalism is a ideal that must be revised upon and etc. shows the heterogeneity among the parties is already solved by some form of coaching or at least will be. It is now no more a race to make a constitution of own ideology, but it is a 'practice' race to show who is among the popular votes in Nepal, and accordingly be chosen by the 'coach' as the 'play maker' for the moves they propose to implement.

This is even more bolstered by the confidence the main 4 parties have shown to go on with the election even though Baidya was narrowing his demands to take part in the election. Baidya, seeing the popular support not with him, must have thought of taking part in the election. But the puppets of the master drew their own calculation that favored Baidya being out of the election. Especially for the UCPN Maoist the exclusion of Baidya means no division of votes among the Maoist. He was either for unification of the two Maoists or if not then pushing them out of the election. With the radical image that the Baidyas already have it was easy to fool us, however except for Netra Bikram Chand, must Maoist leaders advocated participation in the forthcoming election. It is ridiculous how 'blessings' from external power gives enough confidence,even at the cost of deployment of the army, so as to exclude a legitimate force off elections though it was narrowing demands.

The media is so anti Baidya, it is tough for him to survive at urban bases. It is obvious even through latest works like 'Prayogshala' that foreign interference is present in even the most minuscule of government affairs. In such case, how can constitution be independent of it? His proposal of Round Table Conference, though may not be the most genuine of thoughts, was at least a try towards molding consensus withing the Nepalese forces which would diminish  foreign influence.The media points out yet another chance of violent saga to demonize Baidya, though there is little chance he will do the same. I would have been the last person to support an orthodox Communist like Baidya, but seeing his plight I feel mercy for him. Now the big 4s whatever their make up be in the CA-II will endorse the ready made phantom constitution. Apparently the CA-II will turn a hit, and Baidya will be insidiously removed from Nepalese politics. What a loss! Though a advocate of violent rebellion, which is a tragedy in itself, at least he has seen the tragedy of rural Nepalese to whom even Nepal Banda fails to make a difference. At least there is a  remenance of the 'People war'( =yet another tragedy), who still is standing to the reason it were fought for and the people who died for it. The Prachands and BRBs are thinking the war period as a mere dream that has passed away. Neither they repent the war as unnecessary neither they work differently than regular parliamentary force.What a waste of so many lives! Well, its pity to see people like Baidya and his followers being sidelined by the Nepalese themselves for pithy self interests and severe manipulation.We are once again pushed back some 20 odd years. Sorry to say, but Mr. Baidya its good bye to you, at least for now.

So, whoever we elect the result is going to be the same. The constitution as we all have seen in the past will be made in a Resort, and it is pretty easy to put in a imported sets of document there. The 601 we send are mere comedians. Especially when we have seen a defeated fellow, Madhav Nepal, elected as the PM.Now if he is elected again, what does that mean in span of 4 years what change occurred that justifies his back to the hot seat. Nothing, just a comic randomization.

KHILRAJ DHAMLA AND JITU; HOW THEY SUMMARIZE NEPAL'S POLITICAL CULTURE!

Few days ago, I was at Hotel Radisson to attend the award ceremony of the 'National Quiz- 2013' competition. Apart from being the first of it kind and being held with such grandeur; the program was much hyped due to its live transmission via  television, appearance of some popular artists from the music and comedy sector ,and most importantly due to appearance of Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Khilraj Regmi.

When Mr. Regmi arrived, the show shifted from its semi formal approach to a formal one. Various distinguished post holders, one of them being chairman of HISSAN, Umesh Shrestha, took to the stage. He spoke on various issues regarding the plus 2 education system and the contribution of the private sector towards its development. In an ironic sequence of events, the exact moment when Mr. Shrestha begun to give some pin point advice to the government by drawing attention of the Chief Guest Regmi, the camera shifted to focus on Regmi who was busy side talking with another guest. The advice kept coming, Regmi kept side talking!Maybe, Shrestha in his long spanned teaching career would have catered to such disobedience by his fellow students with severe disciplinary measures, but here he was helpless. He rather looked at ease; perhaps due to the regularity of such ignorance by the political leaders of Nepal.

Okay we finish the first part! All well!

Now comes Rishi Dhamala-a different kind of 'journalist'. He begins lauding Regmi. He portrays Regmi as the only able person in the whole Nepal who could have conducted elections. He goes off limits saying Regmi is the only Chief Justice in the history of Nepal to be the head of executive body as well, hence he is a hero. He rather glorifies Regmi being the executive head of the country despite it creating cracks in the three pillar system of our democracy. He acts as if Regmi just won an election and is now a Prime Minister with majority from the parliament.The camera again shifts to Regmi. With hand in his chin, he listens attentively to Dhamala. Than Dhamala plays his ace trick. He throws a sentence to the crowd which asks for them to applaud the very presence of Regmi. The bourgeois crowd responds with an applause. Regmi feels glorified, Dhamala seems to have got his business done. I tried whistling away Dhamala when he carried on with his 'chakaris'. Few people around me reacted with immediate disgust and surprise. Once i went through half a second of whistling, minding of my friend's job (we got the invitations owing to my friend being the representative of one of the sponsor of the event) and the atmosphere around being unfavorable, I ceased.

I now had that uneasy feeling inside my head. Even after knowing what Dhamala did was complete non sense, none of us in that hall could resist. Instead we played into it and clapped well, which was unprecedented in the program which aired some poking remarks regarding Nepal's education system.

Then came Jitu Nepal - the famous comedian. He made Dhamala the center of his witty comical remarks. He in his own comic way began to despise the way Dhamla sought popularity through media. In a satirical act of comedy he said, " I have asked my cable operator to give first priority to Dhamala; he should always appear clear even if the audio or video of the cable is not allright!". Had Regmi been still present these satires could have made him come out of his 'glorification' and get back to reality. Sadly, like many other times Dhamala laughed away the satires and perhaps will continue the same 'chakaris' the next time around!

For us Nepalese, this is the bitter truth! Our leaders are like Regmis who don't give a damn to suggestions given by the experts, rather listen to well orchestrated chakaris by people like Dhamalas and go away giving a useless bhasan which is scripted by others! In the end the crowd can do nothing more than to laugh at satires of people like Jitu, without whom perhaps many of us could have never got out of webs of hypocrisy laid by people like Dhamalas.

THE SIDE OF MARX THAT NEPALESE COMMUNIST FAILED

With the rise of economic crisis in the West, more and more people are taking a look back at Karl Marx’s writings to find loopholes within the current capitalist system. On the other side, the third world countries like ours have continuously experimented with Marxist ideology to take us out of poverty. However, we continue to fail. Through this article, I try to reason the failure of communists in Nepal to bring about a significant change owing to their misunderstanding of following four major aspects.

a. Issue of Productive Forces

In his book, A Contribution to the Critique of the Political Economy, Marx writes, “No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive force for which it is sufficient have been developed and new superior relation of production never replaces older ones before the material condition for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society.” This statement has a pretty direct meaning i.e. a society cannot evolve a newer system of production until the old system has reached its final stages of development.

Marx in his interpretation of transformation of a feudal state to a bourgeois state argues that the capitalist mode of production took over only when the best of feudal innovations failed in fulfilling the then social needs. In Nepal, where capitalist mode of production has not developed even a fraction of what the developed nations currently have in disposal, it will be contrary to Marx’s belief to advocate for an immediate shift to a communist state.

Most of the third world communist movements have ignored this very fact to their own peril. Countries like USSR, Cambodia, North Korea suffered from famines and death of millions. Ironically, with the Maoist insurgency, it was the case of destroying already available infrastructure of development (tagging them as bourgeois development) pushing the country even further down into the path of regression.

b. Ignoring Marx’s “Workers of the World Unite!”

Marx always advocated that it was possible to throw the bourgeois rule only through cooperation among the working class of the world.

Marx, in his book A Critique of the German Ideology, writes “…. and furthermore, because only with this universal development of productive forces is a universal intercourse between men established, which produces in all nations simultaneously the phenomenon of the "propertyless" mass (universal competition), makes each nation dependent on the revolutions of the others, and finally has put world-historical, empirically universal individuals in place of local ones. … The proletariat can thus only exist world-historically, just as communism, its activity, can only have a "world-historical" existence.”

 Marxists of third World countries being the most oppressed; revolted first even with little or no help from the working class in developed states. However, the results have always failed to outcast Marx’s predictions as quoted below.

Marx elaborates in the same passage, “Without this, (i) communism could only exist as a local event (eg. Likes of N. Korea and partly Cuba where the economy is isolated from major capitalist nation’s) ; (2) the forces of intercourse themselves could not have developed as universal, hence intolerable powers: they would have remained home-bred conditions surrounded by superstition (countries like Greece, Spain etc, where massive protest against austerity measures take place but fails to yield result to their favor as they don’t coordinate across nationalities) ; and (3) each extension of intercourse would abolish local communism. (eg. In China where its involvement in the global trade meant the ruling communist party had to reform to capitalist mode of production)”

In the above pretext, the Nepalese communist movement which is fragmented on its own backyard is sure to fail to ignite a world movement resulting Nepal being one of the above three possibilities.

c. The real issue regarding religion

“Religion is the opiate of the masses.” say that to my mom and she will never agree to it. The communist leaders of Nepal have chosen to neglect this issue of religion in fear of losing out to populist sentiments.

Engels with regard to religion writes in his book  ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’, “His (i.e. the recently risen bourgeois class) interest was to get as much and as good work out of them( i.e. the working class) as he could; for this end, they had to be trained to proper submission. He was himself religious; his religion had supplied the standard under which he had fought the king and the lords; he was not long in discovering the opportunities this same religion offered him for working upon the minds of his natural inferiors, and making them submissive..”

 We can co relate the above saying with how the autocratic regime of the Shahs and its subsequent ancestors survived for so long ; ironically gaining popularity among the oppressed class itself. For decades, the Hindus (majority of Nepalese) and other religious outfits have been fed by the ruling class with the religious stories and myths were King have been the savior and ruler of the nation. The monarchies that ruled Nepal, by making itself the guardian, promoter and representation of the religion itself maintained within the psyche of the Nepalese a deep sense of acceptance towards the king. The kings, though most acting like Indra and Ravan continued to portray their image as that of Ram, which in sense has served as ‘opiate’ to the common people.

The failure of the communist revolutionaries to spread such messages into the mass has left Nepalese society marred by caste based discrimination, allegation of witchcrafts to women of lower class strata etc. These social aberrations are sadly backed by the same tactics of the upper class to make the lower working class ‘submissive’ by using the weapon of religion.

d. Lack of empowerment in the working class and its subsequent effect

Engels referring to English working class writes, “in 1884, the extension of household suffrage to the counties and a fresh redistribution of seats…considerably increased the electoral power of the working-class, so much so that (working) class now furnished the majority of the voters.”  Same could be implied to the post 2063 Constituent Assembly election where a call of change especially by those of the lower strata of Nepalese society resulted in elevation of the Maoist. However just like what Engels had feared parliament became a ‘capital school’ to teach tradition i.e to make the working class continue respect the higher classes. Thus, the new working class which got elected into the CA could not play important role during major decision taking moments. Instead the major decisions were taken by the same old leaders of NC and CPN (UML) (most of whom had lost elections) and the rising bourgeois class within the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhesi forces.

Unless the working class is empowered via strong education and political knowledge, elections of any sort will mean that new working class leaders will in Engels words continue to keep up the ‘ornamental caste of drones’(i.e. the formal feudal/royal power centers and established middle class members) to dictate the day to day affair of the state, which means even another CA election maybe fruitless in securing rights of the working class.

JESTHA 14: THE DOUBLE COUP SAGA

As the mystery of another Jestha 14 unfolds, the most unexpected thing might just have happened. As the clock steadily moved towards midnight, it was almost clear none of our leaders were really into constitution making. They had their own set of tricks to covert to what they wanted after midnight.

I am with you brother!

The first Coup as I say is committed by the united stand of NC and UML. Once, it was clear that the issues of federalism could not be solved by consensus; they should have allowed the issue to roll into motion in the CA. Most probably a voting in it would have been the best option at that time. However, knowing that their own lawmakers would cross the floor, the leaders of these parties sought to delay the process in name of flexibility and consensus. Had voting been done, UML would have been in serious trouble with their Leader Prithivi Subba Gurung taking the leadership of the Janajati Caucaus. A signature campaign set right after the 5 point agreement between the 4 major stake holders earlier, gathered 320 out of 596 lawmakers to go for federalism based on identity. They might be wrong or right, but democracy was doomed that day and doomed hard. The NC and UML knowing they would lose to this issue, never really wanted to get into the CA, where they didn't have the same bargaining teeth as in other meetings outside the CA. The so called democratic parties broke the very backbone of modern day democracy that day.

Clever than the teacher Mao!!

The second coup is a fresh one but a long thought for. The Maoists, even the liberals, always ought to have the final onus to be the "State Capture" walas. Every Maoist speaks of it, especially in their internal meet. As far as I am concerned, the Maoists have the cleverest of leaders with their mind full of amazing political tricks. The Baidya faction and Prachanda faction continuously play the Hollywood's Good Cop- Bad Cop routine. The Baidya faction has been able to retain the disgruntled and hardliner faction of their cadres; while Dr. Baburam Bhattrai continuously attempts to bring in more of the middle and upper class into the party base. As, Jestha 14 came closer, the Maoist leadership played an interesting game. Knowing that the downfall of CA, would bring down the legislature as well they organized a show piece discussion the whole afternoon. As the majority of communists, who seek the right situation to pounce for their unquestionable and continuous right to the government, Maoists of Nepal have done the same. If Dr. Bhattarai doesn't resign by himself, there's nothing else to force him to. A Coup, as said by the Chief whip of NC, occurred due to the failure of the same party to understand Maoist tactics. Maoists now have a stronghold in country's day-to-day running. The day they have dreamt of almost two decades ago, have come in partial fulfillment.

If NC and UML don't go into election as soon as possible, but rather choose to stick to its formulae of bringing down Maoist led government showing constitutional short comings, it will obviously  play into Maoist's ploy to stay in the government infinitely. So NC and UML along with other parties have no choice to go into election, even if it be under Maoist government, which shall sustain itself till then via it's coup of Jestha 14.

IN PURSUIT OF EQUALITY

When I woke up last Saturday morning, I was not aware of that day being birthday of Karl Marx. Luckily, one of my friends in twitter tweeted to greet Karl Marx his 194^th birthday. I grew nostalgic and posted some thought into Facebook to mark the occasion.

He resurfaces despite being said obsolete long ago

I adored utopia of equality since beginning of my teenage. I had to call myself a something, so that people could understand what I felt like politically and socially. So, when people asked me of my ideology, I began calling myself a person who adored Marx. I was in deep love with this man’s thinking. His political rhetoric would attract my thoughts especially while seeing poor laborers carrying loads heavier than them, but paid miserly to. I have had hard time persuading peoples why Marx should be regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of all time. The ruthless autocracy in North Korea, the repression of Tibetans by the Chinese Communist Party, millions of deaths in Stalin’s Russia were enough to deter my friends from wanting to know more of Marx. I could not agree more to the intellectuals who rightfully point out flaw in the way communist have ruled states in name of Communist Manifesto co-authored by Marx.

However, Marx’s thinking has planted an irreplaceable dream in human kind; the dream to create a just world. Though the dream was a utopian one, it is the first of a kind to connect people in a revolution aiming for justness in such a large scale, over vast lands. It is true that a social theory possess loopholes. Most of our ancient astronomers were wrong to believe in sun revolving around Earth; however this observation laid foundation to modern day astronomy. So, it is no big deal if Marxism came with flaws in it. However, he has made us dream if a society better than what current day democracy has achieved. The same dream could be obtained by completely different means but the credit of making humans think of its possibility goes to Marx. In an upbringing where we are ready to praise Devkota for dreaming to reach the moon even before the human did, it is inappropriate that we don’t pay respect to a man who thought if every one of us would be free of hunger, prejudice and injustice. Neglecting Marx and his theories as utopian would be betrayal to humanity.

May Day rallies have found new vigor in Europe @reuters

 Many people criticize and sense authoritarian manners in Marx’s idea of legitimizing violence to overthrow bourgeois rule to establish autocracy of proletariat. Let us deal with the first part. In a totally different context, CK Lal points out in his column Reflection (Republica Daily): “The Road to Martyrdom”, “Lord Krishna justifies wars, even by means of deception if necessary for end of tyrannies and restoration of righteousness.” It is similar to what Marx said. It is debatable if Nepal would have been a Republic this soon without a ‘People’s War’, but the Tsar would not have been removed from Russia; ruthless Batista would not have been ousted from Cuba have the discontent of the working class be united by communist ideas. As far as autocracy of proletariat is concerned, communist parties can achieve it through democratic ways. Successful example of it is the three decade long rule of communist party in West Bengal of India, which recently ended in a bitter loss. The communist parties can establish the rule of the proletariats for a long time, taking consent of regular terms from the people. This fact is more underlined by Leon Trotsky when he famously said, “Democracy is oxygen to socialism”.

Attempts to revitalize communism from its ugly track of autocracy via bureaucracy of a single political party, as in Stalin’s Russia, were even made in Nepal. The credit goes to a  foresighted Marxist-Leninist Madan Bhandari. As per the demand of time, in his doctrine “People’s Multiparty Democracy” , Bhandari has tried to push his communist party out of extreme leftist mode into a democratic socialist force. In fact, many socialist parties in Europe are based on consolidation of their communist ideals. The popularity of such parties in Nordic states and recent polling trends in France, Portugal, and Greece support the popularity of socialists in Europe. However, many rigid communists, so called ‘hardliners’ view this as a betrayal to revolution and tag it as ‘revisionism’. This dogmatic approach deprives pragmatic communist to innovate and adapt after the overthrowing of a bourgeois autocratic leader. This approach has failed to yield communism as a self evolving dynamic culture, rather it appears to be an imposed ditto of some other unsuccessful regime of the past.

Need more of these: Comrade Bhandari

The hardliners are wrong in their insistence to push Unified Maoists, the biggest political force of Nepal into a fully fledged communist revolution. Marx himself was aware that a successful communist state could not be built upon an isolated agricultural economy. Alex Callicinos explains in his book ‘The revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx’ the reasons for failure of USSR, “As Marx had predicted, the confinement of the revolution to a single country meant that the whole filthy business of exploitation and class struggle was restored.” Nepal would suffer the same fate, a communist dictator would take over and Stalinism would eventually dominate Marxism. The writer further insists that ‘forced industrialization’ was flung into by the Stalin regime during and after 1928-29. This goes against the very basics of Marxism. In fact, the communist manifesto clearly states the beginning of united revolt of the proletariat to take place in the economies where Capitalism has reached its pinnacle. However, to the contrary communist revolution happened first in Russia and is popular in poor country like ours. Marxist had hoped the Russian Socialist Revolution to be a “a signal to western proletariat revolution. A self sustainable communist world is to happen only when whole of the world resources are capitalized, a small economy like Nepal would go by the North Korean way if we happen to embrace what the hardliners are pushing for.

If we look at matters seriously, Nepal is the last hope for modern communists. Unlike China, Cuba or North Korea communist ideas are popular among the Nepalese without any forced propaganda or repression by the state. We are probably the only country left, which could get an elected communist executive in the near future. Hence, we don’t have the luxury to experiment the same as orthodox communist regime did to fail just few decades ago. The way forward for communists in Nepal is a tough and demanding one. As written in the communist manifesto by Marx and Engels, “This organization of the proletarians into a class, and, consequently into a political party, is continually being upset again by the competition between the workers themselves. But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier.” Hopefully, scattered communists of Nepal would unite and run as a single force in upcoming elections. Further in the communist manifesto it is clearly stated that, “The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties.” Unfortunately, we have clear factions within the big two communist parties itself.

The recurring crisis in capitalist system like the recent recession in US and Europe would make Marx resurface despite rigorous attempt to nullify his criticism of the current system. But, it would be great if Nepal could prove a point or two by successfully pointing to the West, a democratic socialist state could sustain efficiently. It would stand as a towering example; just like our peace process and removal of monarchy did to bewilder the Western elites. Who knows, the pursuit of equality would rejoice the world once again from the deeds of our communists?

RETURNING THE FAVOUR

"On Thursday, police clashed with demonstrators as hundreds of thousands swamped the streets in Barcelona and other cities.          Unions said 800,000 people joined the protest in Barcelona. Police put the number at 80,000.  Some marchers in the city smashed windows and set rubbish bins alight.                                                                                   Police fired tear gas and shot rubber bullets at the ground, TV pictures showed."

This was what BBC reported about the latest protests in Spain.

"Frankfurt airport cancelled about 80 flights and said services would not be back to normal until Thursday.

The strike has also grounded 142 Lufthansa flights, mainly on domestic routes, with Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne and other airports hit.

Verdi is pushing for an 8% wage increase for its two million federal and local government workers."

Similar is the story now at Frankfurt the third busiest airport in Europe.

"SNPL had closed its garment unit in Biratnagar from June 15 citing insecurity following violent protests by the workers. 

The prolonged labour problem, according to the company management, forced the company to permanently close the garment unit." 

This is what happened at Surya Nepal earlier  as reported by Ekantipur.

So, the protests are not just a part of the Nepalese society but that of highly privileged European society as well. When strikes happens/ed in Nepal, and  foreign medias roll their camera in the street, we feel a sense of loss. We feel ashamed. We are made to look upon as fools who hardly know economics. The elites in the media ask the protestors with a quote of some billion of losses in a day!


 In one gloomy day for Nepal's sovereignty, the ambassadors of the superpowers united and shamelessly declared to slam a visa and fund embargo for people and organization that would call for a strike. Well, I would like to know what they are doing right now for the strikes in their own backyard.Ain't the cacophony of the worker's chant strong enough for them to realize protest can turn up even in a well-to-do "civilized" society?


We can be sure that the protestor's in Europe enjoy far more higher living standard compared to that of the workers in Surya Nepal. Yet an European diplomat will have enough courage to question the morality of the strike here at a Nepali enterprise. They would teach us to wear a black ribbon instead of burning off tyres. That's fair. However, protestor's action not only depends on their morality but also on their level of frustration. When we have nothing to lose, we resort to most violent and meanest way of protest to a level to which rarely a "suited and booted" diplomat in a blue number plated Land Rover reciprocates to.


Now, that the Europeans are feeling the heat of a hard recession, austerity measures have created unpopular sentiment in the continent ranging from Germany(the biggest lender of EU) to Greece(the total bankrupt).Everybody knows, cuts in benefits, social welfare, government jobs etc would lessen the burden in Economy. So, why are the civilized taking it to the streets torching dust bins? It is because of frustration, similar to that we are used to here at Nepal. The have the same hostility within as that we have towards our leaders, who have failed to leave up to their promises!


So, next time a foreigner pricks you about protesting for a valid reason, don't think twice to return them the favour! All of us know that one day when social equity and prosperity envelops Nepal, such act of random protests and strikes would gradually go away from our culture. Till then, protests and strike will act both as boon and curse for the welfare of us the Nepalese and an integral part of Nepal's yet to bloom democracy.

Why should Engineers get into Politics?

Engineers are generally problem solver.

Engineers are taught a technique to deal with certain pattern of problems. Later with experience and instinct they are expected to solve problems of different kinds.  They have to keep on improvising the taught techniques so as to survive and prosper. Since, every situation is different from another an engineer always looks to learn, modify and be modest about the vast knowledge he has already accumulated. Engineering ethics believes in respecting and supporting his fellow colleagues work and idea along with constructive criticism.

The engineered product is meant to survive for longer period. Hence, an engineer must be far sighted. He has to take the responsibility of his present action up to the point in future where he himself might not exist.

How long will you apply for these type of jobs?

Engineers are brought up to be reasonable and economic. An excellent engineer separates himself from the numerous other by being cost effective for the same output. An engineer must possess social skill so as to work smoothly in the field and to understand the demand of the public.

The above mentioned qualities are required for another breed of job as well. They are politicians. They too are expected to be problem solvers. They must be willing to learn from their experience, courageous, improvising, modest, far sighted, responsible, reasonable and cost effective.

One of the few examples of such leader is our current PM Bhattarai. A career of Architect has certainly helped him not only design structures but made him full of above mentioned

characters. Although being a communist and a hard one on that he is ready to improvise. He seems to be ready to take the risk of venturing into parliamentary democracy. He knows how to win place in people’s heart and mind. Even if that is a show off to drive a Mustang and go checking hotels in the highway, it has certainly worked in his favour. He is modest with his personality though his intellectual ability boasts a commanding platform wherever he goes.

Among the advantages that an engineer has above other profession while coming into politics the major ones are being able to work in a group , knowing the grass root demands and ability to stay calm in tough situations. The humility that the former US president Jimmy Carter possesses is second to none among his colleagues. He too was an engineer. What more, the head of the Libyan interim government formed after the successful revolution that removed Gadaffi  is an engineer too. However, being an engineer you need to work up on your political thesis, enhance your dialectics and be in touch with an organization of your liking. So, people if you are an engineer who knows that chair in the office is waiting for you?

{the blogger is an engineer himself and asks for forgiveness if found guilty of being biased, but surely engineering rocks!}

TECHNOLOGY AND EQUALITY

The present day world is full with different sort of inequalities. Nepalese don't have as equal share as the EU or the Americans do. In EU, roughly an organization made to unite and equalize every nation of  Europe, Germany has a louder say than Greece. In sports, Rooney is paid more than Tendulkar.  Even among laborers, Nepalese have a minimum salary of Rs 6500 a month while the British have 5.8 pounds (roughly Rs 580) per hour.

Why is this happening? Were things planned to happen like this?

Let me take u back to the day when very first humans were born. Back then everyone must have been equal. Now we aren't.

Why?

Many have tried to answer this question. Buddha, Jesus and other religious or spiritual Gurus tried to remove such  inequality through their spiritual preaching and magical deeds. Marx tried to convince us through his theory of class struggle. Capitalism which have been running the show in the present time, has moreover served in widening the rift between  the poor and the rich. So, where have we missed the plot? Why  have we been put into a situation where we think that all of us can't be given the same privilege to survive? Why does the mere geographical location of our birthplace determine most  of our future?

The main reason of today's inequality is the unequal distribution of technologies. The reason of this is the pseudo feeling of nationality which has been developed among us. Whether it be nuclear energy or plastic toys every country wants to make its technology a secret. Within a country itself various private companies fight for the patent rights of their efficient  models.  Many provisions such as taxes, trade treaties, embargos etc have prevented the free flow of technology through out the globe. This has caused inequality among the humans.

Once we reach the tipping point of technological advances, and once we find a mechanism to spread it all over the earth we all shall be equal. Despite of our difference in attitudes,  talent ,nationality, religion we all shall be equal again. The

rate at which that particular day shall be approaching us depends on how our policy makers act. If the policies are devised  so as to provide a direct relation between the mass and the technicians, the day shall come to us soon. Otherwise, if we keep foolish politicians and bureaucrats  in between controlling our technical demands and technician's expertise, the day might not come even during the lifespan of the mighty sun.

So let us believe in ALL were EQUAL,  ALL aren't EQUAL, ALL will be EQUAL. Good luck to us.

Here is  John Lennons's Imagine. A perfect song for this article.

 

DONT YOU SMELL SOMETHING WRONG?

I am one of those few students who have had the opportunity of
studying at  both Tri Chandra College (few months) and Kathmandu
University. The difference is striking . Many may point to the huge
difference in the fees that the two institute charge as a cause. That
may be a reason but the other major factor is the politics that
affects both the institution.
When you enter into Tri Chandra you cannot ignore the big boards of
political figures like Prachanda or Madan Bhandari welcoming you. That
surprised me. Are they so big a scientist to be there?  A step of few
leaders of the fellow student unions to please their senior comrades
has given the educational institution an ugly political look. Once you
enter into the college arena you can feel numerous unknown
people(obviously these are party affiliated student leaders)  shaking
hand with you and the funny thing is they may do  it even twice or
thrice to you in a single day. They don’t attend class regularly or in
most of the cases not at all (that’s why they have the time to discuss
politics and shake hands with every students).Silly thing is, student
politics is taken as a footstep to senior party politics. How about
the media? They constantly accuse politics in Colleges as a major
factor for degrading educational standards. On the contrary, when it
comes to student union election they portray it as a “mini election”
for the major parties to check their strength on ground.
Kathmandu University has clearly stated in its rules that no student
union affiliated to political parties shall be entertained. At least
that was among the points that I signed while I got admitted . There
are no such boards of political figures neither you can see offices of
such student wings. It clearly has a provision of a Student Welfare
Council, were members are elected among the class representatives
(i.e. one who have won from their respective class commonly known as
CR).This policy certainly discourages those sort of leaders who don’t
attend classes and later fight for the place in the student council.
The rules were broken though. I have two good examples to back it up.
When Girija Prasad Koirala, the then president of Nepali Congress,
died a notice was stuck on the notice board of the university gate
under the authority of Nepal Student Union –Kathmandu University wing.
Everybody saw it. The rules were broken. It seems as if the rules had
changed. Sadly, I didn’t know it or simply I don’t want  to come in
terms with it. Second one is related to the recent visit of Dr.Baburam
Bhattarai and the other fellow comrade(I forgot his name) of UCPN
Maoist. I too was interested in listening to him. A learned man and a
celebrated engineer himself  I hoped it to be fruitful. When I was to
enter the auditorium  it was clear the program was a political one
organized by the student union close to the Maoists popularly known as
“krantikaris”. I turned around and returned. How easy have we made for
the leaders to forget the rules? An individual is greater than a
University? Shame on us who attended!  If the rule is obsolete why
don’t simply throw it away rather than breaking it more than seldom.
Last Tuesday we had the student welfare council election. Two of my
friends stood up for the post of CR from my class. To my knowledge
they are merely interested or involved in active pro party politics.
At the time of election, the environment turns so ironic that they had
to have a backing from at least a political student wing. Getting
substantial post in the Student Welfare Council, is impossible until
you back a political wing or vice versa.
I felt sad and remained absent in the election. I can’t simply blame
my friends. Problem lies somewhere else. Slowly but surely we are
taking the wrong step by allowing such things to happen freely and go
unnoticed.  Now the former students who were the leaders of such
political student wings roam around the University during the election
trying to influence the voting pattern. After a decade we shall have
many more such “leaders” fighting for influence. Then we may have to
allocate a week for the election to the contrary of a single day in
the present day situation. The most troubling thing is I heard
teachers influencing students to vote to a certain political wing. One
of my friends reportedly received SMS from a fellow teacher to vote a
certain way. How fair is that? We all are hungry for power and
influence. The student unions create such atmosphere that we cannot
account for consensus in a class of 60.How can they suggest their
senior party leaders to form a government of consensus?.
It’s hard to create and sustain a university of caliber of as ours.
The result of politicization of the Student Council has shown its
obvious result. The University has been padlocked  since the election
.This is just one of the few problems that shall arise. In this path,
we shall surely reach a day where the VC, Registrar, Controller all
are from various political backing. Professors shall be hired in terms
of their political belongings and than we shall slide back once and
for all.
People may question me, how can the students be made politically aware
without making them involved in such pro party politics. They give me
example of various universities having pro party student election. The
problem I see is why do we always have to follow others. Why can’t we
lead by examples? If we want political awareness, why can’t we hold
political debates bringing politicians from world around. American
Universities holds debate between the candidates running for the post
of president. One of the Universities even invited the Iranian
President  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a debate. Why can’t we bring three
leaders of top parties and hold a heated debate regarding the
education policy they have neglected so easily? That way we shall be
politically aware and in fact ahead of other institutions which simply
hold a propaganda style one dimensional pro party conference with
senior party leaders. Maybe we come to realize that only few Nepalese
leaders have the quality to withstand such debates with a highly rated
academia.
We all are students and we all have the same agenda. We want quality
education .That’s it. We are being broken down into different fringes
due to the selfishness of political parties. Is there something called
pro communist physics or pro capitalist chemistry. No! So, why do we
have to be affiliated to one? We are surrendering our precious time
listening to the propaganda of our top leaders saying students should
now take the charge of the country. What they simply want us to be is
to be ready to block the roads when they don’t have the government .
Gosh , I recall Prachanda saying he wants to turn Universities to
Barracks. The students listened and clapped, and we revolt when we
feel questions are tough or when the exam centers are too tight. Such
are we into the shell of politics and power. We have forgotten what’s
right and what’s wrong.
Kathmandu University, I thought took a brave step and sought a new
system of remaining away from politics. Nobody cared of it when it was
small and in it early days. Now that it has grown and has turned
influential everyone wants a share of the pie. I have begun to smell
something wrong. We too are falling prey of dirty politics. We should
be aware of it right now .Small but irreversible changes shall hurt us
big in future. Otherwise, one day we shall be the same as Tri Chandra
were no entrance tests are taken, professors don’t come at time and
the student union elections stops the planned syllabus. Then the
experts shall flood in the op-ed with articles as much like they do
now commenting about the status of Tribhuvan University.It shall be
too late by then.

SIMPLE THOUGHTS TO COMPLEX MAOISTS

SIMPLE THOUGHTS TO COMPLEX MAOISTS

Thanks to the combo of an hour of midday break and the libraries' periodical section, I get an opportunity to glance through most of the dailies. The current political impasse has provided ground for political analysts to fill in the op-eds full of jargons and complex political arguments. I respect them. I feel the integrity and intellectuality inside every pieces. The extent may depend on individual's perception but you certainly get to feel the gap between the regular tea talk of politically aware buddies and the columns in black and white.

So, in the following paragraphs, I will focus on relating the current maoist agenda through an inter disciplinarian approach ranging from psycology to the cinema hall. I shall also elaborate on simple advices that I have given myself or listened to being given to the Maoists. It may be while commenting on a facebook link or listening to laborers having cup of tea at 'Baneshwor Chowk 'or while sitting in front of TV viewing a current affair show!

AFRAID OF MULTIPATY DEMOCRACY?

Is it worth a game when you control both sets of pieces in a game of chess? The answer is a no in most of the cases. However, Maoists are so afraid of competition that they want to wipe away any sort of opposition either through intimidation or by isolating itself as the only 'proper political force' in the country. Maybe, to achieve the never achieved goal of communism, the hardliners inside the party are pressing for a continuous communist regime with zero opposition. O.K.! Let us assume the Maoists successfully seize state power. Than what? No elections! No freedom of speech! No newspapers! No facebook! Limited or no mobile services! (as in Gyanendra's regime!). Most importantly, there will be no way to update or to gain a fresh mandate from the people. For Nepalese, who have succesfully completed three big revolutions in a span of six decades(2007, 2047, 2062/63) B.S. against varying magnitude and form of totalitarian regime, another support to an authoritarian regime will not only be suicidal but one of the most foolish act in 21^st century politics. Probably Nepalese have already realized this and the result was the failure of the indefinite strike called by the Maoists.

Dear learned brothers and sisters at Paris Danda, competition brings out the best in you. So admire this aspect off multiparty democracy. I don't mind if Prachanda or Baburam Bhattarai taking the helm at Baluwatar via a legitimate election for as many times , but where can the people question , if either one of the leader through his power (if gained through an urban uprising as thought by the Maoist) or through 'revolutionary charisma' (like Castro!) put forward his relative as his successor. Same has been the fate of North Koreans and the Cubans. They are not the country what Maoists made Nepalese to dream of when they went campaigning for the CA election. Maoist leaders visit Switzerland but who knows what they learn there? As soon as they land at the TIA, probably the northern wind of Maoism gets over them and another wave of immature politics is made to pave the way for Prachanda to become the next Kim Jong Il.

GOING BEYOND P.M.!

After emerging as the largest party from the CA election, it was obvious that Maoist would lead the next government. Yet I wonder, why Prachanda should have been so desperate for the post of PM. Outsourcing the job to Ram Bahadur Thapa or Barsaman Pun would have worked miracles for the then 'mystic, charismatic and majestic' image of the supremo. He would have been tagged as a leader who is ready to sacrifice the post of PM for concentrating on constitution and peace making process.(Not only he, Madhav Kumar Nepal too missed that opportunity in the greed of being a PM)

In the long run (if such Maoist led government had manufactured constitution and maintained low corruption and violence). Maoist would have surely won the following election with a sound majority. Prachanda would have rose as a 'Super PM'.

You may wonder what actually a Super PM is. A solid eg.is our neighbour at New Delhi –Mrs Sonia Gandhi. She too had a golden opportunity to rule the roost at New Delhi (even attractive and far more powerful than the role at Baluwatar!). She chose otherwise and stepped out of the race of PM, but after three quarters of a decade she is highly rated and her decisions seems to be the one that the cabinet silently obliges to.

Maoist have lost this chance for sure. Still most of the analysts believe Maoist will emerge as the biggest political party relating to their high success in the directly contested seats at the CA poll. However a commanding majority seems to be a minimal possibility.It is better that the Maoists realize this fact and act accordingly. It would be better off for the party as well as the nation.

STARVING SYNDROME

Here is a short discription of a psycological disease that I shall later relate to the current Maoist situation.

Anorexia Nervosa, is an eating disorder found among adolescent girls. The girls suffering from this disease tend to starve themselves."Some have argued that anorexia often results from a fear of maturity in general, or from a desire to remain 'Mom and Dad's little girl'." (Morgan &King,Intro to Psycology,pp480)

Similar is the case of Maoist. Similar to the anorexia suffering girl ,Maoists are pushing the limits to maintain themselves as peoples' revolutionary party. They are finding hard to transform from a military equipped party to a civilian one ( by this I am not meaning the same as UML or NC). They want to integrate whole of their soldiers under a separate regiment in the NA or keep it as such. This is to prevail the chances of 'Jana Bidroha' (peoples' revolt) as one would think.

The indefinite strike called to bring down UML lead coalition government, sacking of incumbent CoAS were also the moves inspired to maintain the revolutionary attire to the party. These moves have done no good to the party, instead it has backfired and at least for a neutral observer like me have started starving Maoist of its vote and sympathy. The once populist saying of ' J garcha Moabadi le garcha '(Only Maoist can do!) has slowly vanished at least among the urban residents.

It might have been just okay if Maoist took two step in front and a step back. But Maoist are taking three steps back instead and are losing trust and credibility as never before. Its never late though. Maoist leadership must analyze their current status compared to three years before. Let's be hopeful they pinpoint their weakness and grow up to be a matured and more responsible party.

CLEAR THE CONFUSION

When I wanted to know the changes that are to be injected in a capitalist way of economics to bring about sustainable development I was suggested to go through “The Commonwealth Economics” authored by Jeffery D Sachs.(the writer himself is in a capitalist expert).Similarly 'Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West' a book by Benzir Bhutto helped me understand the reasons why democracy is struggling in Islamic countries(the writer herself is a Muslim leader).Texts like this helps us to understand and clarify many ideological confusions in a simple way.(Otherwise I couldn't have gone through the whole of Capitalism or the Quran to get a clear view on the above topics.)

The Maoists too make me confused. Nobody really knows whether they are there for democracy or one party coumunist regime or something in middle. I want to best clear this through one of the books or articles written by one of the reliable Maoist leader(as I have shown in the case of above book the writer are related to their own field).This also means that the Maoist cannot shy away from their agenda the hard copy will remain there as a proof and can't be blamed as a media creation. This would make us understand Maoist objective and ideology because all of us can't go through or rather fully understand Marx, Lenin or Mao's principle. As a matter of fact, I think the leaders themselves are confused and divided in this issue. Clearing of this dilemma would make Maoist a better directed party. This would certainly lead to a more united Maoist as the proxy war between the three main leaders shall also diminish.

WATCHED SOME MOVIES COMRADE?

As the spiderman was told,"With great power comes great responsibility", Maoist must come in terms with this saying. They have a large base of young and energetic party members.Now they need to acess their power and act responsibly. The people have sent Maoist to the "Shutter Island" of New Baneshwor so as to completely detach themselves from violence. If Maoists come off healed, than they provide us an opportunity to say "Mero Euta Sathi Cha" otherwise what more than "Ta ta Sarhai Bigris ni Badri!". For me, I just pray every morning "Wake up Sid!".