That's a fantastic, detailed summary of developments and where the country stands. And most importantly, it is measured and does not indulge in hypebole. It's a momentous development, but hopefully treated more as the start of something rather than the end... As you correctly point out, the old guard could well reorganise in time for the election, whenever that might be. So eventually, the youth will have to do create strong foundations that will allow them (or who they consider as their representatives) to contest elections and, hopefully, win.
This is a great summary with sharp observations about the challenges ahead. I am very happy that we got to this point so quickly; not to minimize the killings and destruction, but other possible scenarios looked much worse than what has played out so far. On top of meeting the short deadline for holding elections, I think one of the main challenges will be to overcome a corrupt 'system'. Will new faces be able to resist old ways of doing things? Time will tell.
My observation is simple and straightforward. It is the infiltration by rajabadis and other elements into Gen-Z protest that led to violence. The damage done was beyond expectation, this is the single reason why Gen-Z leadership decided to remain low profile or kept quiet. They started coming out only when their movement is taking a different turn. Nepal's days are not only difficult, but it is also complex now - primarily, because mainstream political parties have been sidelined. One can just observe situation unfolding in Bangladesh to draw lessons for Nepal. No one can believe elections within six months! Going by Nepali style, It will take six months just to count votes in Nepal.
Just an observation - this seems to have been fundamentally about resentment over (observed) wealth inequality. And "anti-corruption" was just an ideological framing to make it sound like a principled political movement. So installing an "anti-corruption" government might not really get into the heart of the issue.
Good point. The Frans de Waal experiment with the two Capuchin Monkeys each being payed for the same work with cucumber vs grape is worth watching again and again. The strength of the reaction is telling. We are all only hairless monkeys after all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiU6TxysCg
Ashwin is right, though anti-corruption is an ideology? Being anti-crime would not seem an ideological point. Underlying the wealth inequality in Nepal is also supremacist belief, that we are made of better stuff than the masses, and we are entitled to this.
'Idealogy' might not be the right word, but It's the closest I could think of. Perhaps 'cause' could also work.
"We're fighting corruption" worked better for gen-z than "We're fighting socio-economic inequality", bc the latter is a cause already fought over and over by Maoist, UML, NC, and other parties, and *cough* won.
At the end of the day, Nepal is still a country where 100 years worth of full salary paycheck isn't enough to buy a half decent house. And "anti-corruption" alone is not going to solve this absurdity.
What happened in Nepal has happened before during the Sunflower revolution in Taiwan, but the people eventually lost power again. Why? Because they centralized their systems and they became corrupted again.
Nepal should not make the same mistakes. We must make new decentralized and radically transparent systems (called collective swarm intelligence systems (see many of our recent articles) in order to prevent slipping back into corruption, and to give the people a voice and a place to organize and pool ideas and resources free from propaganda and group labels.
Our very first article three years ago covered the sunflower revolution. We must learn from their mistakes. Voting for a leader isn’t good enough. ALL leaders will eventually become corrupted. The bad guys are too good at it.
Yes, there is a huge amount going on there. Also, I will admit I am a little late to this very important issue.
We also do have to be aware that there is a lot of disinformation and fake news about it too! I’m glad your article does not add to the problems!
Hashtags such as #NepoKid and #NepoBabies trended online supporting protests, but also became a vehicle for false narratives linked to religious extremism.
That's a fantastic, detailed summary of developments and where the country stands. And most importantly, it is measured and does not indulge in hypebole. It's a momentous development, but hopefully treated more as the start of something rather than the end... As you correctly point out, the old guard could well reorganise in time for the election, whenever that might be. So eventually, the youth will have to do create strong foundations that will allow them (or who they consider as their representatives) to contest elections and, hopefully, win.
This is a great summary with sharp observations about the challenges ahead. I am very happy that we got to this point so quickly; not to minimize the killings and destruction, but other possible scenarios looked much worse than what has played out so far. On top of meeting the short deadline for holding elections, I think one of the main challenges will be to overcome a corrupt 'system'. Will new faces be able to resist old ways of doing things? Time will tell.
Thank you for writing this article - very informative read!
My observation is simple and straightforward. It is the infiltration by rajabadis and other elements into Gen-Z protest that led to violence. The damage done was beyond expectation, this is the single reason why Gen-Z leadership decided to remain low profile or kept quiet. They started coming out only when their movement is taking a different turn. Nepal's days are not only difficult, but it is also complex now - primarily, because mainstream political parties have been sidelined. One can just observe situation unfolding in Bangladesh to draw lessons for Nepal. No one can believe elections within six months! Going by Nepali style, It will take six months just to count votes in Nepal.
Just an observation - this seems to have been fundamentally about resentment over (observed) wealth inequality. And "anti-corruption" was just an ideological framing to make it sound like a principled political movement. So installing an "anti-corruption" government might not really get into the heart of the issue.
Good point. The Frans de Waal experiment with the two Capuchin Monkeys each being payed for the same work with cucumber vs grape is worth watching again and again. The strength of the reaction is telling. We are all only hairless monkeys after all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiU6TxysCg
Ashwin is right, though anti-corruption is an ideology? Being anti-crime would not seem an ideological point. Underlying the wealth inequality in Nepal is also supremacist belief, that we are made of better stuff than the masses, and we are entitled to this.
'Idealogy' might not be the right word, but It's the closest I could think of. Perhaps 'cause' could also work.
"We're fighting corruption" worked better for gen-z than "We're fighting socio-economic inequality", bc the latter is a cause already fought over and over by Maoist, UML, NC, and other parties, and *cough* won.
At the end of the day, Nepal is still a country where 100 years worth of full salary paycheck isn't enough to buy a half decent house. And "anti-corruption" alone is not going to solve this absurdity.
... it could be a start though.
What happened in Nepal has happened before during the Sunflower revolution in Taiwan, but the people eventually lost power again. Why? Because they centralized their systems and they became corrupted again.
Nepal should not make the same mistakes. We must make new decentralized and radically transparent systems (called collective swarm intelligence systems (see many of our recent articles) in order to prevent slipping back into corruption, and to give the people a voice and a place to organize and pool ideas and resources free from propaganda and group labels.
Our very first article three years ago covered the sunflower revolution. We must learn from their mistakes. Voting for a leader isn’t good enough. ALL leaders will eventually become corrupted. The bad guys are too good at it.
We need a “Newer World Order”…
Like this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshketry/p/a-newer-world-order?r=7oa9d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Our first article about the sunflower revolution:
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/the-case-for-building-a-new-open?r=7oa9d&utm_medium=ios
#nepal
#decentralize
#transparency
#collectiveIntelligence
#SwarmIntelligence
Great post. Very informative. Thanks for sharing. I recently wrote on the topic as well: https://open.substack.com/pub/robindhakal/p/what-next-for-nepal?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=55v1he
Yes, there is a huge amount going on there. Also, I will admit I am a little late to this very important issue.
We also do have to be aware that there is a lot of disinformation and fake news about it too! I’m glad your article does not add to the problems!
Hashtags such as #NepoKid and #NepoBabies trended online supporting protests, but also became a vehicle for false narratives linked to religious extremism.
I write about it on https://thedisinformationobserver.substack.com/p/this-week-in-disinformation-a31