Tag Archive for 'Madheshi'

23
Mar

Time running out for Nepal

Time running out for Nepal
By Sudeshna Sarkar, www.reliefweb.int
March 23, 2007

Kathmandu (23/03/07) - It was a solemn occasion on Friday at Kathmandu’s Tundikhel park, one of the foremost venues in the Nepalese capital for political meetings and cultural events.

Only last week, the ground had seen a colorful display of horsemanship and daredevil stunts by soldiers of the Nepal army. But now, instead of the usual air of festivity, there was grief, anger and shock as 28 bodies - brought to the site for mourners to pay their respects - lay on the platform in a grim reminder that things were not going right in a country finally looking forward to peace, progress and elections after a decade-old civil war.

Though the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) signed a peace accord with the seven-party government last year and pledged to lay down arms under UN supervision, fresh violence erupted in the …

Published on
March 23, 2007
  0 Comments 650 views

18
Feb

Nepal - People Drag Leaders to Democracy

People Drag Leaders to Democracy
Analysis by Parbati Nepali, Feb 18 2007
www.ipsnews.net

KATHMANDU, Feb 18 (IPS) - Many residents of Nepal’s capital spent their weekend holiday in their vehicles in hours-long queues for petrol, fearing a flare-up of a general strike that closed the main highway in this landlocked country earlier this month, leading to fuel rationing.

For nearly three weeks the shutdown blocked supplies of fuel, food and other essentials from reaching the Kathmandu Valley and other points north of ‘madhesh’, the plains region bordering India, stranding travellers and forcing businesses big and small to close. The strike was ignited by the shooting of a ‘madheshi’ protester demonstrating against the country’s interim constitution, which until then had been seen largely as another imperfect but needed step on this South Asian nation’s rocky path to permanent peace.

Until April 2006, Nepal’s Maoist rebels were fighting an increasingly violent uprising against the state. In …

Published on
February 18, 2007
  0 Comments 752 views

02
Feb

Nepal - The Interim Constitution, the Madhesi Turmoil

By Dr Bal Gopal Shrestha - Ending a long uncertainty, Nepal received its interim constitution and a new parliament with the Maoist rebels on 15 January 2007. The old parliament that King Gyanendra was forced to revive on April 2006 has been dissolved. This was a big leap forward in Nepal’s history because it completely denies any power to the king, which signals a virtual end of the 239 year old feudal Shah dynastic rule in Nepal. Most importantly the preamble of the constitution states, the sovereign people of Nepal has promulgated this constitution but not by any single person or a power centre. This makes it clear that for the first time in the history of Nepal, people in Nepal made a constitution for themselves. This is a landmark victory achieved by the Nepalese people. It can be said that this is also the beginning of a new era …

Published on
February 2, 2007
  0 Comments 1,030 views

22
Jan

Nepal : Madhesi independence and neighbors

Nepal : Madhesi independence and neighbors
By Dr. Upendra Gautam
January 22, 2007

The political forces, which look splinter and peripheral from Kathmandu, have raised arms for independence of Madhes, the middle flat territory, from the unified Nepal. The most immediate cause of Madhesi (people of the middle flat territory) uprising seems to be the grand geo-political success of armed insurgency of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M). The long term historical cause of the political uprising nevertheless is rooted in the failure of the majority of the oligarchy rules in Nepal. These oligarchy rules instead of introducing visionary pro-people reform and development across state affairs always treated the state-its people and territories-as their private property.

In such a background, the foremost demand of independence of Madhes from the unified Nepal must not surprise a discerning political analyst. Historically South Asia has been a region in the world where war of independence never ended …

Published on
January 22, 2007
  1 Comment 775 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


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