Hello all!

We are excited to share that Jasmine’s article “Challenges to Policing in Nepal” has been published on the WIP website, here is the link:

http://thewip.net/talk/2012/06/challenges_to_policing_nepal.html

Enjoy!
Keep checking back for the rest of the groups’ articles throughout the month!

Whenever I return from a trip abroad I am usually saddened by the mundanity of our country.  Houses are usually beige, white, blue, etc. Cars are single color tones of silver, tan, black, and maybe the occasional red or green.  But not in Nepal.

Hotel in Liwang, Rolpa District, Nepal

Houses were emblazon with bright colors of pink and purple.  Even in the most unlikely place of Rolpa, the epicenter of the Maoist uprising where the effects of the war can still be felt, there were beautiful brightly colored buildings.  It was from one of these buildings children threw purple flower petals down on us, a blessing.

Buses are marked with elaborate murals of Hindu gods and goddesses. Or funny sayings in English like “Kiss Me Goodbye” or “Miss You” or “Relax.” There horns are even colorful tooting songs that could give “La Cucaracha” a run for its money.

Tail light on our beloved bus

Craftsmanship and creativity are badges presented to the world. From the metal lining the luggage racks on our bus to the common shawls and hats worn by the Nepali, everything has a intricate design showcasing talent and individuality.  Even the most simple mud huts we saw had beautiful designs of flowers and elephants worked into the mud.

I wish more folks here in the US had the courage to paint their cars with tigers and snakes (although we do have the Trans-Am hood chicken). Or decorate their houses with intricate tile mosaics.

Bus in Rolpa

Last semester I took a workshop entitled “Improving Government Effectiveness” and since our return from Nepal I have been thinking a lot about what I learned in the course.  The thought of improving government effectiveness could not be a more daunting task, especially in Nepal.  One of the tools our professor taught us in the workshop is the helpful instrument of SWOT analysis. Through SWOT analysis we can breakdown Nepal’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  While Nepal has many examples of each of these points I will discuss the four I personally the most important.

A major strength for Nepal, related also to natural resources, is its large tourism industry.  Tourism is already heavily utilized as a resource but there is always room for growth especially with recent trend of eco-tourism.  As we saw at the Three Sister’s Trekking Company tourism brings the funding to create sustainable change.  The company provides training for women to learn how to be trekking guides and provides the women economic opportunities that might otherwise not be accessible.

Paraglider overlooking Pokhara Valley, Nepal

While the Nepal government is very encompassing it is highly centralized which is such a large weakness.  In Nepal there is a large discrepancy between rural and urban areas in terms of economic spending, educational opportunity, and local government agencies. Nepal’s powerful central government comes not only from their monarchial history but also from their history of destabilization throughout the latter part of the 20^th century.  When Nepal started to rebuild their government there was such an emphasis to democratize the central government and while there was some effort to strengthen the local government it was not enough to remain sustainable.

One large opportunity for Nepal is its natural resource potential especially the opportunity to be a major hydropower supplier to India and surrounding countries.  Hydropower could not only help to bring economic gains to Nepal but also infrastructure such as roads, power, and telecommunication.  Nepal could also use the resource as a bargaining chip to procure funding for community projects such as agriculture development or schools for the workers.

Nepal’s history of corruption and instability have is a major threat to the legitimacy and stability of Nepal as a whole.  With heavy corruption in the political parties, which, influences everything from business to the security sector, it is hard to take their validity seriously.  Not only have crime and corruption affected the government’s legitimacy but also the long history of minority oppression and human rights violations.  These threats were so great they were a major reason for the Maoist uprising in the first place as well as the uncertainty in the peacebuilding process.

Social movements have to do two things in order to be successful: 1) disseminate information and 2) unite the people.  These two factors have been key to every revolution, movement, and/or uprising in history.  From the dialogues of disgruntled steel mill workers in the local bar to Twitter feeds in Egypt media has such an important role in these movements. Steve Jobs once said, “This revolution, the information revolution, is a revolution of free energy as well, but of another kind: free intellectual energy.”  There are a plethora of outlets in which media including, but not limited to: radio, pamphlet, television, art, and the Internet in which to spread this intellectual energy.  These outlets are not only necessary in revolutionaries and movements but also while working in the development field.  In the current time social media is an incredibly useful tool for organizations to promote their cause, fundraise, collaborate with other organizations, incite change, and disseminate crucial information.

The organization Search for Common Ground, which is now a large international NGO media organization promoting peace who has been working in Nepal since 2006.  Search for Common Ground uses radio, television, and other media outlets to highlight how different communities in the 40 plus countries can come together and work for the greater good of the community.  In Nepal they use a television program about a soccer team, Hamro Team, which is about a female lead soccer team featuring players from many different communities throughout Nepal.  The program showcases the trials and tribulations of not only each of the players but also the issues of working together as a team.  Search for Common Ground also has a radio drama that deals with many of the same issues the TV show does.   I find that the way Search for Common Ground uses media is so wonderfully extraordinary and a truly feasible in which to promote change.

As we sit in the Hong Kong airport, once again, it seems like a lot longer that 2 weeks since we’ve been here. Our journey to Nepal has come to a close and reflection has begun. Our course is titled Challenges to Peacebuilding and oh have we learned about Nepal’s challenges.  From security to infrastructure to health, Nepal’s road to peace looks a lot like its roads through the mountains, long and winding. The political parties need to come to the table for peace or Nepal will never reach its potential. As we heard from almost ever organization we met with the political parties are crippling the peacebuilding process and have penetrated ever aspect of life in Nepal.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Nepal has many untapped resources that it needs to capitalize on. The greatest resource Nepal has is its youth. Chanakya said, “the world’s biggest power is the youth.” They are motivated to make the change they want to see in their country, they have fought for it. I believe they will also fight for peace.

Can you imagine 14 hungry and tired students showing up at your doorstep asking for a meal? What if there was also no power? This is exactly what happened to our faithful chef in Rolpa. After a very long ride into the remote district we reached our hotel hungry only to find out that there was no power and everything was closed due to the late hour. Our sweet chef took on this challenge on by making us a delicious meal of potatoes, beans, and carrots while keeping a smile on his face. I don’t think anyone of us will forget his generosity and cheerfulness.

All of us will come back from our adventure in Nepal with numerous stories of how extraordinarily nice the Nepali people are. We have been greeted by so many smiles along our journey that it would be impossible to leave here without feeling a great affection for the Nepali people. Tonight, we had our last dinner where we got to say thank you and good-bye to many of our friends here in Kathmandu only to find them thanking us right back. It is quite easy for me to come to the conclusion that Nepal probably has the nicest people on Earth.

On our flight from Hong Kong to Kathmandu I witnessed a man going through the ritual of Adhan (Islamic call to prayer). I was then struck by the realization I was seeing something I would never see in the US, a Muslim man praying on a place? I can only imagine the outcome.

As I have often written about in my academic career and discussed with peers Islamophobia is a hot button issue for me. To be blunt, I cannot and will not stand for it. When starting our research for this trip to Nepal I once again faced the realization that Islamophobia is worldwide.

Today we met an amazing organization, The Fatima Foundation, which was established to empower the Muslim women of Nepal. They do this by using religious teachings in the Qur’an to promote women’s human rights.  The foundation also provides training for the women to provide them with a sense of empowerment. At the meeting they shared the story of a differently abled women who received training in tailoring and felt so good about what she does that she now runs trainings in her district.

The work the Fatima Foundation does helps these women feel less marginalized and has allowed them to not only be proud of themselves as women but as Muslim women. The program has worked so well that now Muslim men are taking part in the trainings too which is uplifting the Muslim community as a whole here in Nepal.

That statement of “Oh my god” has been been uttered quite a lot by our group during our Nepali adventure. From our first glimpse of the Himalayas to the 5 million stairs (ok a bit of an exaggeration) we climbed down on our decent from a trek from Pokhara to Sarangkot to the white knuckle bus ride into Rolpa; we have often found ourselves in a state of awe.

But my personal awe has been to learn about the resilience of the Nepali people. Even through 10 years of conflict and while facing so many challenges in their own peace process we are continually greeted by hard working people and their hope for the future of Nepal. The warmth in the faces we meet is in infectious and I am truly honored to hear their stories about the work they do and what drives them to keep going even with so many obstacles lining their path. Even though we’ve only been here a week and a half I can definitely say, “oh my god Nepal is a wonderful place to be.”

Throughout the world right now youth are taking to the streets in order to have the their voices here and Nepal is no different.  Currently there are many political youth organizations, such as Youth Force or the Youth Communist League, that are asking their members to fight for the political parties agenda.  One way they are doing this is by enforcing bandhs which are forced closures of the streets and shops on different days. These groups intimidate the people here in Kathmandu if they try to venture out during the bandh.  Their was suppose to be one yesterday here in Kathmandu which did not happen, however we did see many armed police standing on the streets in riot gear ready to go if need be.  On one hand it troubles me to see that often the only way in which youth feel they will be heard is through violence and intimitation but on the other hand while I was looking at the police holding their rifles I can understand where the idea comes from.

A previous bandh in Nepal

Then we met with a wonderful organization, Alliance for Peace who opened my eyes to the opportunities the youth of Nepal have to take up the reigns of peace building in their own country.  The president of Alliance for Peace explain to us that the goal of the organization is to strengthen and support the role of young people in peace building while teaching conflict resolution strategies.  I found their work remarkable because of their dedication to influence the youth of Nepal to become the peace builders by opening up dialogue between the different groups and encouraging the youth to work together.  I very much look forward to researching further the roles youth are playing in the peace building process here in the different districts of Nepal.

The ten districts of Nepal in which Alliance for Peace works

Picture this: a man dressed in army fatigues wielding 5 guns including a M-16 and sub-machine gun opening fire on a family gathering inside their home.  This scene does not come from a Martin Scorsese movie or crime novel.  This is what happened on June 1^st, 2001 in Kathmandu, Nepal.  As the old saying goes, fact is usually stranger than fiction.

In the case of the Royal massacre in Nepal, what is fact and what is fiction isn’t necessarily clear.  During the shooting 15 members of the Nepalese Royal family were brutally gunned down inside of the palace during a Friday night gathering.   Ten victims eventually died from the injuries they sustained including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya.  But who could possible be responsible for this massacre? This is where the facts become very blurry.

Left to Right: Crown Prince Dipendra, King Birendra, Prince Nirajan, Queen Aishwarya, and Princess ShrutiÂ

Many held Crown Prince Dipendra responsible for the crimes but this has never been proven.  As the story goes Prince Dipendra became increasingly angry with his parents for not allowing him to marry his long time girlfriend Devyani Rana, who’s family belonged to the rival clan of Queen Aishwarya.  He was also angry about his father’s decision to transition the Royal family from an absolute monarchy to constitutional head’s of state, much like the British Royals.  Some of the family members who survived that night did, in fact, say the Prince was the shooter before turning the gun upon himself.  He was shot once in the side of the head.

Even though it was believed at the time the Crown Prince was responsible for the killings he was still proclaimed king after the death of his father, instead of being accused of treason.  However, the Prince died from his injuries on June 4^th, 2001, making his reign quite short.  King Birendra’s brother Gyanendra was then proclaimed king.  Many of Nepalese people blamed him for the Royal massacre believing he was actually behind the murders due to his own desire for the throne.  One rumor is that he ordered 2 men wear Prince Dipendra masks during the assassinations and that actually these men shot Prince Dipendra.  King Gyanendra was never received as the true king by many in Nepal, which only fueled the fire of the fight to abolish the monarchy.

No one knows what exactly happened the night of June 1^st, 2001 inside the walls of the Nepalese Royal palace and probably never will.   However, the actions taken that night were a catalyst for Nepal’s changing ideologies.

Nepal Royal Palace in Kathmandu