Nepalese Democratic Youth Council in USA (NDYCUSA)
America-Nepal Friendship Society, Inc. (ANFS)
Alliance for Democracy & Human Rights in Nepal (ADHRN), USA

Cordially Invite You to

"Where is Nepal Heading?"
Looking Through the Lenses of a Journalist

A Conversation with

Mr. Kunda Dixit
Founding Editor, Nepali Times

Kunda Dixit is the founding editor of the Kathmandu-based English-language weekly Nepali Times. He is also co-publisher of the newly re-launched Himal Southasian magazine. Mr. Dixit previously worked as news reporter for the BBC at UN headquarters in New York, as Asia-Pacific director of Inter-Press Service and as director of Panos Institute South Asia.

Venue:
Delhi Palace
37-33 74th Street
Jackson Height, Queens

Date & Time:
Saturday, July 23rd, 2005 from 1:30 PM--4:00 PM
(Refreshments will be served from 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM and program starts at 2 PM sharp)

Admission fee: $7

If you have any questions, please get in touch with
Anand Bist: 917-4427405
Sanjaya Parajuli: 917-902-2667
Tara Niraula: 212-491-0378

Is it "War of the worlds" ?

I am a new participant, often a silent reader. Saano manchhe ko thulo mukh hunchha ki, tara 2 things i have seen

1. Ashu sir says he sees every thing on a case-by-case basis, so he has every right to support or criticize king and also has done both although he affirms that he supports monarchy, as an institution.

2. Nepe sir says he opposes only the political thoughts only, not the person in Ashu sir.

So, both seem to agree on looking at things rationally on a case-by-case basis.
If A=C and B=C, then also A=B

bekar ma ke ko phat-phat

Aba Kunda Dixit ko name bhayeko thread ma uskai kuro garne ki, launa Poonte dai, tyo program ma ke kasto sar sallaha bho, sunna paye hunthyo.

Nepe asks:

"A single word from you would do. Answer it in YES or NO. Did you take on the King in your stand up at Patan Dhoka ?"

The answer is: YES.

Remember, you were NOT in the audience that night.
Remember, you obviously have NOT read the Kantipur report of 2 April 2004.
Remember, I have asked you to verify the information yourself.

So, the basis of your making that accusation is FALSE.

Are you NOW going to say, "sorry" to me

or

are you going to engage in clever verbal gymnastics here, showing everyone that you now have no credibility whatsoever and that you are such a virulently partisan character who'd stoop low to make a public accusation even when you have NO case whatsoever?

******
Nepe wrote:

"I am 99% sure that you did not."

You are WRONG as usual.
See above.

***********

"Basis ? First of all, I have listened to a part of your presentation (the audio clip you provided)."


Just because you listened to it does NOT mean anything.

Provide a sound-bite and let Sajha visitors independently listen to it and then JUDGE the validity of the basis of your accusation. Since you have no credibility, your words do not mean anything.

Since you made the accusation, you provide the evidence.

If you CANNOT do that, then, you remain exposed as:

a misleader
a liar, and
a political bigot


Remember, I defend the truth, NOT your lies.
**********

" Second, I have seen your monarchy-friendly views in Sajha almost on a daily basis for past 4 years (!)."

You are WRONG here too.

Rather than defending the monarchy, I have challenged some of some your pie-in-the-sky republican views.

And I made those challenges in an academic sense, meaning that I am a firm believer that best ideas emerge when opinionated people take sharply opposing views to
thrash out an issue. If everyone agreed with everyone else over everything, we would not have debates, but echo chambers full of "wah wahs".

But obviously, given your Akhil background, you are someone who has ZERO
respect for the nature of such debates, and, you CHOSE to propagandistically
frame my comments as "monarchy friendly", and went on and on and on, trying to
paint me as such.

It's when you characterized a stand-up comedy show which you did not attend as "monarchy friendly", then, my worst suspicions about you came true.

I mean, if you can publicly LIE about the nature of a program which you did NOT attend, and then try to get away with that lie in a brazen manner, then, you -- Deepak Khadka --are someone NOT to be trusted at all.

If you had been a completely anonymous poster on Sajha, then, maybe your words would not have mattered much.

But you have put a face, name and backgrtound to "Nepe", and all the trust invested in those entities are GONE now. I hope sajha visitors realize what Nepe has done to his own image.

************
Nepe wrote:

"Third, I have seen how your political bias gets in to your art work. Do you remember our fight over 'I want my NTV' ? This piece of humor too was monarchy friendly."


That 500-word humour piece was a recycled one, written and published in 1996, almost 10 years ago.

It contained NOTHING about the monarchy, but made fun of a few Nepal TV programs.

But only to someone as jaundiced as you are, such a humour piece which had NOTHING to do with monarchby can come across as being, ahem, "monarchy friendly".

I have written 100s of other pieces that also contained NOTHING about the monarchy.

But by your weird definition, because they contained nothing (negative) about the monarchy, I must then be a "monarchy friendly" person. Did't they teach you logic in the Middle East?

**********

"If you are disparate to show that you can write monarchy-unfriendly humor too, don't turn me to Dixit or Luintel, instead turn to me, I can help you."


Don't FLATTER yourself: You are the LAST person I'd turn to for writing humor.


***********

Nepe wrote:

"Your humor piece on Krishna Pahadi, 'In clear Conscience', in Nepali Times was a monarchy-unfriendly piece of some sort. I said humor because, although it was published as a 'Strictly Business' column, the content of the piece is such that it becomes a piece of humor when placed in a Business section. When I first read it, I was wondering how come this piece fitted into the business section. Then I thought it must be the editor's sense of humor."



Fine.

As a reader, you have a RIGHT to make such comments, and I defend your right in this spehere. I am NOT going to tell you how you should read my Nepali Times pieces. Thanks, though, for reading.

FYI, my definition of "business" is BROAD enough to encompass issues and events
that shed light on doing business in Nepal. This week, for example, I have written how political parties can use some business techniques to better craft and deliver their messages.

Here, check it out:

- http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue257/strictly_business.htm

My next piece will deal with mobile phones and development in Nepal.

oohi
ashu

Here is that old and somehow dated but Nepe-referenced humour piece "I want my NTV"


- http://guild.sajha.com/guild/read.cfm?guildid=41


Nepe has given me some legitimately contextual opportunities to market some of my pieces! :-)

oohi
ashu

I wish ALL those engaged in personal bickerings took their fight OUTSIDE. Last time I checked, the email services were still intact. :)

In the mean time, the written bullet-point summary of Kanak dai's presentation is ready and is now being verified by the concerned indivuduals. Hopefully I will be able to put it up here by tomorrow. The audio of the presentation will also be up on www.samudaya.org in the next couple of days.

For those who missed the notice, the audios of presentations by Shambhu Thapa, Gopal Siwakoti and Sushil Pyakurel are already up on www.samudaya.org too.

Are these people, Gopal Siwakoti and Gopal Siwakoti Chintan one and the same?

थूईया मेरो कोडी पर्न नसक्या हात! थू थू थू थू थू!!!

KUNDA DAI?S presentation?NOT Kanak dai!!!!!!!!!

Taak parey AnilJShahi, natra Poonte? :)

I think this edition of our blickering is coming to an end. So bear with one or two more postings from Ashu and me, friends.

*** *** ***

Ashu,

So you had taken on the King ?

So why have you been hiding it like a biralo ko aachi all these months refusing to disclose during dozens of my inquiry ?

Were you saving it for an opportune time to embarrass me ?

If you were, what can I say, you got me man. You got me.

And you want a public apology from me, don't you ?

All right. You've got my apology.

But before that, would you care to show, once for all, that my assumption that your presentation was monarchy-friendly was totally wrong by presenting a sentence or two from your show ?

And you are right about the definition of the term "monarchy friendly". Total absence or the presence of a mild criticism that does not hurt the subject significantly would be "friendly".

So, shall we ?

Nepe
P.S. By any chance, was your taking on the King related to "Rolls Royce" that I had suggested to you before the show right here in Sajha, Ashu ?

Paramendra! Where is Paramendra?! We need his link - quick! A video link of Madhesi working in their field and singing a happy sound would be nice.
;)

baap re baap!!!!
yaha ta "saade ko judhai ma bachho ko michai" po hola jasto 6, bhagum saathi...pachhadi pani nafarkum kyare .......

R Baral asks:

"Gopal Siwakoti and Gopal Siwakoti Chintan same one"


Answer: No.

But they are related to one another.
Because of a jhagada, these relatives are NOT on speaking terms with one another.

Personally, having worked closely with Chintan in the past, I must say that I do NOT agree with many of his political views, BUT

I greatly admire:

his intellectual honesty,
his indefatigable energy,
his first-rate brain and
his sharp debating techniques.

Everytime I talk to him, I learn something new.

In my view, Chintan is one of the most misunderstood Nepalis, and that is a great loss
to all of us.

On Sajha, I once defended Chintan against false attacks, hurled at him by Kantipur's reporter Ujir Magar (in that newspaper).

oohi
ashu

What follows is an article bt Pratyoush (with references to Gopal Siwakoti Chintan)

Needless to say, Nepal's ideologically partisan human rights community, which does NOT like Chintan's asking uncomfortable questions, did NOT condemn those physical attacks against Chintan at the time.

******

?Chintan?, IT and growing intolerance

(Jan 2001)

By Pratyoush Onta

It is the month of Magh now. It means that the marriage season is going full swing. One mahamela, of the Nepali Congress, is over but another one - on information technology - has just begun. Between expensive marriage parties in Kathmandu, the NC meet in Pokhara and the IT tamasha, there is no dearth of analyses regarding what is ailing our country and what the medications are to make ourselves rich and ?developed."

It happens to me every marriage season. Relatives and friends who I do not get to meet that often but who know that I live a life dedicated to the mind take pleasure in lecturing me about how "talking and writing will not take us anywhere!" Last Saturday, for instance, when 20 fellow graduates met in Kathmandu to celebrate the marriage of one member of the St. Xavier?s class of 1981, two of my school friends told me point blank that generating conditions that would enable us to do better analyses of our present situation - my long-standing project in life - is futile. "What we need," they continued, "is a benevolent dictator". I have heard this before. However I continue to be amazed by the consensus on this subject between Panchayati ideologues such as Dirgha Raj Prasai, supposedly liberal Green Party member Maitalal Gurung (who emphasized this point in a radio interview with me in 1999) and my car equipped friends who live comfortable middle-class lives!

The desire to grow under the benevolence of a dictator is an indicator of the authoritarian streak that is pervasive amidst members of the comfortable classes in Nepal.

Hence it is no surprise that there is so much impatience with reasoned talk, informed arguments and the need to build intermediary networks and institutions that would actually democratize our society. This is precisely why my relatives and friends provide me unsolicited advice on how a life dedicated to the mind is not very useful. It is also the reason why the likes of lawyer-activist Gopal Sivakoti ?Chintan? get beaten up.

Whatever might be his faults, personal and professional, Chintan has done a lot to raise issues regarding the right of all Nepalis to live with dignity.

He has been a pioneer in the right to information movement. He has forced various big players - our governments, our corporate bosses, our donor maliks including the World Bank - to seriously consider issues related to distributive justice regarding the benefits of development projects. He has helped to form networks of numerous activists who want their voices to be counted in the national and international arenas where decisions affecting them are routinely made.

As a teacher of law and legal practitioner, he has contributed significantly to the movement of public interest litigation in Nepal. Through all of his activities, he has tried to give the culture of open and reasoned discussions a firm foundation in our otherwise closed society. Of late, he has forced the debate that it is not the job of NGOs to deliver bikas. A one-time left-party worker himself, he has openly criticized the Maoists for their murderous ways.

Perhaps more than anybody else I know, Gopal Sivakoti ?Chintan? has continuously shown a mirror to those who have claimed to lead Nepali society and forced them to see their ugly selves in it. That is precisely why he has earned the wrath of so many people in our country. For years, members of the media have routinely published unsubstantiated charges against him. The Police once fabricated a false case against him and locked him up for a few days. And just some days ago, unknown assailants attacked him, causing severe bodily harm. Had it not been for the timely intervention of passer-bys, Chintan would have perhaps been killed.

The attack on the likes of Chintan is unfortunate and it must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. However the incident also shows that precise analyses and network building - hallmark of Chintan?s portfolio of activities - done to provide a life of human dignity to all Nepalis do matter. It matters at a time when tolerance toward dissenting views is increasingly being dealt with in the safaaya model by the Maoists, violence against Nepali Madhesis is being justified in terms of vacuous nationalism of Panchayati vintage, and individual greed has overtaken the majority of the comfortable classes of Nepal. And this brings me to the last argument of this essay.

In all the hype about the CAN Info jatra, I am yet to hear one well-argued case about the links between information technology and the institutionalization of democracy in Nepal. IT-enabled services, e-commerce, exporting software worth so many billion rupees a year - we have heard these mantras for some time now. We have even been told about e-governance! But where is the IT-talk that would increase the diversity (in class, ethnicity, and gender terms) of those who have access to instruments of information technology in Nepal? Through the work of cyberactivists elsewhere in South Asia, it is now clear that the one-machine, one-account, one-user model (the dominant model in the US) cannot work in our part of the world. Low infrastructure density, relatively very high hardware expenses, and expensive connectivity suggest that IT discussion in our country must be geared toward promoting one-machine, one-account but many users type of models. This requires the innovation of courageous individuals and intermediary institutions.

Is there a single Gopal Sivakoti Chintan amongst Nepali IT activists? If so let us hear from him or her regarding how IT can be used to increase justice and human dignity in Nepal. And please do not give us e-cliches!

http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2001/jan/jan26/editorial.htm

AnilJShahi,

I look forward to reading about KUNDA'S PRESENTATION and seeing this thread veer back to its intended topic. Thanks for your trouble.

Finally! :D

The audio will also be available at www.samudaya.org soon.

Nepalese Democratic Youth Council, USA (NDYC),
American-Nepal Friendship Society (ANFS), and
Alliance for Democracy & Human rights in Nepal, USA (ADHRN),

jointly organized a talk program with Kunda Dixit on July 23rd, 2005, Saturday.

The venue was Delhi Palace Restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.

The following is the summary of the event, including Kunda Dixit?s presentation.

The program was moderated by Dr. Tara Niraula, current president of ANFS. Dr. Niraula delivered a brief welcome note, urging Nepali pro-democracy and peace-loving organizations, and people, in the United States to work collaboratively to achieve their common goal, which is to restore lasting peace and security, and to promote democratic values in, Nepal. He then introduced the featured speaker of the event, Mr. Kunda Dixit.

Kunda Dixit is a founding editor of Nepali Times, a prominent weekly news magazine in Nepal, and is also co-publisher of Himal South Asia magazine. He also serves as directors for Asia-Pacific for Interpress Service and PANOJ INS., South Asia. He previously worked as a reporter for the BBC at the United Nations and is a graduate of Columbia University?s prestigious School of Journalism.

Some of the key issues that Mr. Dixit raised about the current crisis in Nepal were:

1.Despite the fact that India has been playing increasingly key role in determining Nepal?s fate, which is evident in the fact that international players, including the United States and Great Britain, make stop over in New Delhi for consultations before coming to Nepal for talks with Nepali officials, the current government?s attitude towards India has been increasingly hostile and confrontational. Rightly or wrongly, it is clear that any international attempts to resolve Nepali crisis will be coordinated with India.

2.Current Nepali government?s justification that the extreme measures that it has introduced in Nepal are to curb the Maoist violence is dubious at best. It is very clear that repressive measures that the government of King Gyanendra has introduced have mostly targeted the democratic institutions in the country (political parties, civil society, media, etc.) instead of the Maoists.

3.King?s official takeover on Febraury 1st, 2005 was the ultimate result of careful planning to undermine the democratic process in the country. It started on October 2002 when the democratically elected parliament was first dissolved.

4.Nepali media was proudly one of the most free and vibrant in the world prior to February first, which was suddenly left in the dark immediately after King?s takeover. Even though some restrictions on the media has been lifted recently, and more and more writers on a national level are able now to write critically of the government, harassment, imprisonment, and torture (of the journalists) by the security forces on district levels are still continuing. It seems that the government?s decision to relax it?s tightening on the media on some prominent national news outlets is only to allay international pressure to free the media.

5.Despite the ban on news broadcast by FM stations in the country, we need to be proud of the fact that 10 years (or so) of democracy has instilled some creative values/ideas in the Nepali media people. They skillfully have been trying to circumvent the ban on news broadcast by performing live broadcast of the news in market places, or by having conversation-style outlet of news items, or even broadcasting news in songs formats!

6.Both the state and the Maoists (two armed groups in the conflict) are threats to national stability and progress. They both have engaged in arbitrary arrests, harassments, torture and ?disappearances?.

7.Government?s claim that it has clamped down hard on the Maoists is questionable. The security forces have killed ?Maoists? mostly in defensive actions only, and their success in defense has been limited to district headquarters only. Both the security forces and the Maoists seem to avoid contact with each other, rather than taking action to defeat the other. This has resulted in a MILTARY STALEMATE in the field, and a POLITICAL PARALYSIS in the center.

8.King Gyanendra?s government seem to say all the right things (e.g., ?we need democracy?, ?constitutional monarchy is the real solution?, ?there is no alternative to multi-party democracy?, etc.) but has been acting exactly opposite to those goals. What little hopes people had (out of desperation) in the King is rapidly losing grounds. Two formations of the cabinet full of individuals with notorious records of being corrupt and staunchly against democracy during the Panchayat times reflect upon King?s desire to quash democracy in the country for a long term. There has also been left no rooms for much-needed reforms within the institution of monarchy.

9.It is appalling how the current government of Nepal has been indulging in the practice of making a mockery out of international concern for Nepal. Some of obviously major backward steps have been taken immediately after key international player?s visit to Nepal. For instance, the new cabinet was formed just four hours after Dr. Brahimi, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan?s emissary, completed his visit to Nepal. Similarly, new stricter ordinances were issued soon after Christina Rocca, US Under Secretary of State for South Asia and her assistant Donald Camp?s respective visits. This has led Nepal into further isolation from the international community.

10.Current Nepali government seems to be using the Burmese model of governance. They (Nepali government) seem to be trying to copy the Burmese model of not only militarizing the country, but their 40 years of successful apathy to international pressure.

11.This increased polarization based on militarization of the country has painfully squeezed the people of the ?middle ground? (different from ?neutral?) whose key strength comes from their belief in non-violence. Political parties are part of this ?middle ground?.

12.Government?s wide spread tendency to label anyone disagreeing with them as ?anti-national? is also dangerously unwarranted. This practice on the part of the government seems to be directed towards making it easy to take action against dissidents.

13.There seems to be a deep split even among the Indian government agencies regarding their policy to Nepal. On the one hand, the intelligence community, the army, and some political establishment in India favor supporting the King for fear of Maoist victory; while, on the other hand, the CPI (the coalition government), ministry of external affairs and other political establishments favor continuing military blockade of Nepal. The latter believes in ?twin pillar? ? constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy ? will provide long term stability in Nepal. It is also believed that the leak of information relating to Nepali Maoist leaders? visit s to India came from the Indian intelligence themselves. The King has adroitly exploited and manipulated this rift among Indian establishments to his own advantage.

14.There are three perceived ways of resolving this unthinkable three-way crisis:
--Political parties and the Maoists team up against the King
--King and the political parties reconcile to confront the Maoists
--Have a three-way mediation/negotiations

It is not clear if the idea of political parties and the Maoists coming together to confront the King as a single force is merely intended as a threat strategy (to the King), or it becomes a reality. In either case, the government seems to have taken a keen notice of this possible development and has issued warnings that anyone colluding with the Maoists would be considered ?anti-national?.

Most intellectuals and scholars seem to like the idea of the King and the political parties (two constitutional forces) reconciling to confront the Maoists (the unconstitutional force). By using the power of the constitutionality on their sides, it would be easier for the former to pressure the latter to come to the political mainstream.

The last option of mediations/negotiation (by international, possibly UN or EU intervention) was initially thought of as impossible because of Indian opposition ? they feared that allowing international intervention in Nepal would herald similar attempts by the international community in Kashmir or Nagaland. However, since India is desperately seeking a permanent membership in the UN Security Council, they seem to have softened a bit on their initial hard line stance. Also, the moderates among the Maoists seem to be looking for a safe landing too, which can be provided by the international mediation team.

15. Mr. Dixit concluded his presentation by claiming that he is still optimistic that the crisis would take a positive turn soon. Thing shave gotten so bad that he believed it?s hard to imagine it getting worse. All three warring parties should realize the real danger of further lengthening this conflict, which would inevitably wipe out the entire three if prolonged much longer.

**Mr. Dixit entertained many interesting questions from the audience afterwards.

Wow, it must have taken an effort to compile this rather comprehensive summary! Here is a distinct example of public/community service, and I thank Anilji for it.

It'll take some time to digest all the information, but a quick read-through made me notice something that was conspicuously missing, a critique from Kunda, however short, of the "contribution" of the "Democratic" old-fart (mis)leaders to the present political impasse. I believe a mention of that would have added more balance.

Kunda\'s paper Nepali Times has completed five years of publications. Congratulations.
People willing to congratulate Kunda should write to him at editors@nepalitimes.com

Anil Shahi,

How many people participated in " A Conversation with Mr. Kunda Dixit "??

Just curious..Question

Ashu, Nepe,
I was hoping to read some news about the subject matter, but ended up reading some crap.
I would respect if the poster's material is somehow linked with the SUBJECT. For example, someone can create a thread like "Fight of nepali journalist" or like that and the interested one can join in. Readers can make a choice to read or not the subject. I am completely mis-lead on this thread......

Pheri

About 20 people attended the event.

Now, unlimited number of interested people can access the audio of Kunda Dixit's presentation (including the Q & A session) at: www.samudaya.org

san_diego_nepali,

Invaluable suggestion about having a sub-thread every time one wants some disgression, bickering etc. However, I doubt if that will ever be implemented/practiced in Sajha. You probably will just have to shift through a lot of junks to finally get to the information you want in Sajha. Sajha has been that way ever since it came into existence. And, however ironical, it seems, these junks are what actually make Sajha a popular site. So there is going to be a great trade-off if cleaning up is ever considered.

That said, the following posting of mine is on the very title of the thread. You might find it interesting . . .