(Dutch original) Nepal: een kokosnoot in de handen van een aap. Gent, Vrede, maart – april 2005, nr. 372 (English translation) Nepal: a coconut in a monkey’s hand.
Nepal: A coconut in a monkey’s hand
If Nepali’s talk about their country and its politics they often say; “badarko hatma noriwal (a coconut in a monkey’s hand). In recent years this was mainly directed to the political leaders of the democratic parties, but it applies to all powers governing the country. It can be seriously doubted if the king, after his royal coup, will be able to open the coconut.
In a speech King Gyanendra stated that the two main reasons for his royal coup on 1 February 2005 were a lack of progress in the peace process and the inability of the government to organize elections. Even a reputable magazine like The Economist called both pretexts false. The Maoists refused to talk to the previous government just because the ministers were already little peons in the chess game the king was playing. The king, as head of the army, usually neglected agreements and his troops are considered the main responsibles for the failure of the last peace process. The idea that a free and fair election can be organized in a country where rebels control almost 80% of the territory was just ridiculous. While the outside world reacted from furious to at least disappointed on his coup, the reactions inside Nepal where more mixed. Although the king proclaimed the state of emergency, banning all demonstrations and freedom of speech, some students in Pokhara tried to rally, only to be shot away. In the capital Kathmandu it remained remarkably calm. Of course, the king had also banned all telephones, Internet and private media and censored the few remaining media channels by sending troops to the redactions. In the first place the coup means bad news for journalists, politicians and civil society in general. It didn’t take long for Dipak Bhattarai, TV journalist for Kantipur Publications, to realize something had seriously changed.
“Minutes after the king’s speech to the public I wanted to interview the leader of the biggest party in the government that just got sacked, Madhav Nepal. He was just leaving his home but even before I had a chance to ask him for a reaction the army arrived in big numbers. They send him inside, cut of his telephone lines, placed him under house arrest and ordered me to stop filming. With these prime time images I hurried to the redaction, only to find out the military had arrived before me. They screened the news, proclaimed the new rules and held the newsreaders under shot while they were on air. Three days later they left with the message that by now we should know what we can do and what not. That’s why me and my colleagues who didn’t quit, got fired or arrested are making headline news on for example the different kind of socks one can buy in Kathmandu.”
Although reliable and non-biased information was unavailable and fear was a reason to stay quite, most people in Kathmandu didn’t just keep quite. Taxi drivers, waiters, shopkeepers and many others didn’t hide their feelings and whenever asked what they thought of the new situation they happily answered, with voices full of new hope. According to them, finally something good had happened. People burned candles of hope and even the strike called for by the Maoists was completely neglected inside the Kathmandu Valley, contrary to all previous strikes.
Everybody royalist or Maoist
After more then 200 years of absolute monarchy (excluding a so called democratic intermezzo in the 1950’s) the revolution of 1990 brought some sort of democracy in Nepal. The euphoria was short however. After a few years of progress and stability political parties broke up, brought other parties in power down and chanced their ideological course with the wind. During the second half of the nineties it was as if a bunch of sea elephants were having their own little wars on some drifting icebergs with ever melting bases. Part from the huge corruption and economical problems the political parties mainly forgot to democratize themselves. Since 1994 more governments then springs followed and the average Nepali didn’t even know who was in power, let alone where the parties in power stood for. Since the first government that got sacked by the king himself, on 4 October 2002, they’ve been calling out for demonstrations, but without much popular support. For most people, the king finally brings some clarity, stability and even a feeling of security. People who used to believe in the compromises of the political parties are turning into royalists or just the opposite, Maoists. The middle way doesn’t exist any longer; from now on everybody is royalist or Maoist.
Fatalism and development on the countryside
In the villages (where more then 80% of the Nepali’s live) there’s no such thing as the safe anonymity of the city. Everyone knows everyone. Outside the cities and the connecting roads between them, most of the country is occupied or at least affected by the Maoists. Stating your opinion means choosing sides and especially in the contested areas this can be fatal. Normal farmers are trapped more then ever, even if they don’t wish to choose sides. One day one army comes for food or shelter, the next day the other army comes to punish the farmer for giving it. While the Maoists usually give a warning first, the army frequently uses the first-shoot-then-ask rule by which many innocent people already died. According to a law voted in 2001, despite strong protest from organizations like Amnesty International, the army even has the legal right to shoot any person involved in theft, aggression or “any other violent or subversive act”. Sometimes a suspicion can be enough to arrest or even shoot someone. Mayli, a woman working in a tourist lodge in a strongly contested area, tells the story of her brother.
“One day the Maoists who ask for donations to the tourists arrived in my brothers lodge. They had decided to sleep in a small building just behind his lodge and asked for food in his kitchen. Of course he didn’t like that but what could he do? When the army found them in a search operation they immediately arrested my brother too. The army also took the expensive satellite telephone, which we had just bought as an investment for tourist use, under the pretext that the Maoists could use it for their operations. But for us this all doesn’t matter anymore. All we want is a house, some clothes, food and peace. Nobody cares for the rest if only we had peace”.
These kinds of stories are not an exception and usually a fatalistic voice comes along with it. Most people still believe that the gods have their lives in their hands and it is not up to them to try to change their destiny. According to Bista, in Nepal a famous social anthropologist, this fatalistic culture is an imported culture brought over from Kathmandu and growing through the ages. He describes the masses on the countryside as people who have powerful traditions concerning productive labour, endurance and most of all efficient and cooperative methods of social organization. According to him, those people are the greatest potential of Nepal; they form the true milk inside the coconut.
Hypocrites from Delhi to DC.
It can be seriously doubted if the king, through his army, will get the milk out of ‘his’ coconut. Meanwhile, ambassadors are called home to discuss if further macro economic and or military support to this regime is still useful. The hypocrisy is that the biggest supporters of the king in the past are now suddenly making the biggest noise and threats against the same king. The countries who kept supporting the royal army throughout the years in which the king was already taking power are now disappointed and ‘surprised‘. India even cancelled a regional summit because it didn’t want to shake hands with the king in his new function as prime minister. The US gave 25 million $ worth of military equipment in 2002 and 2003 together. They supported the king in such a strong way that it destroyed the whole peace process of 2003. Now they complain about the lack of democracy in Nepal. While life in Kathmandu goes on just like before, the rest of the country is increasingly suffering from an ever-worsening conflict. With the little peons eliminated from the chess game, it seems like it will take a long time before someone will ever open the Nepalese coconut.
Sources
The Economist, Feudal follies. 5 Feb. 2005, p.25-26
Bista D.B., Fatalism and Development. Hyderabad, Orient Longman Limited, 1991
Amnesty International, Nepal: Human rights and security. London, Amnesty International, 14 February 2001
(Dutch) Maarten Post, iedereen heeft angst in Nepal. MO magazine, 2004
Interviews
http://nepalresearch.org/
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