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| ashu |
Posted
on 11-Jul-00 04:33 PM
The Kamaiya Mukti Andolan (Emancipation of Bonded Tharu Agricultural Laborers) that's been raging on in the Far Western Nepal since May 1st has come to Kathmandu, thanks to the leadership of Dilli Bahdaur Chaudhary (for more
on Dilli, see below a separate posting) and his colleague Yagya Raj Chaudhary.
A bunch of us formally and loosely associated with the Martin Chautari (an organization founded and run in Kathmandu, among others, by former members of the Boston Nepali Community) are now assisting Dilli (yes, we are all on easy first-name basis around here!) with matters of strategy, press relations, legal
offensives and logistics to make the Andolan successful.
The Andolan's success, as defined by the "War Team", so to speak,
is measured by:
The number of Kamaiyas released into FREEDOM (i.e. the more get
released into freedom, the more successful is the Andolan) with:
a) Their saunki (debts) declared illegal.
b) The State's slamming jamindaars' with lawsuits for crimes against
the State for keeping bonded laborers (=slaves).
For details, updates and to show your support (or, for that matter, to vent your
anger), please continue to check: http://www.freedomnepal.org
Or, send emails to: chautari@mos.com.np Attention: "Kamaiya War Team"
oohi
ashu
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| ashu |
Posted
on 17-Jul-00 04:32 PM
Dherai, dherai khusi ko khabar!!!
Thanks to the pressure, relentlessly and strategically exerted on the government of Nepal by 150 Kamaiyas' continuous Dharna at Bhadra-kali in Kathmandu since last Thursday, the government of Nepal, by way of a landmark Cabinet decision today (Monday), formally declared debt bondage (or the Kamaiya system) intolerably illegal in the Kingdom of Nepal, effective immediately.
By this decision, the government has also declared that all the accumulated debts
of Kamaiyas NULL and VOID, and declared them FREE citizens who are entitled to the same rights and privileges as all other Nepali citizens are!!
This is a major, decisive, victory for the Kamaiya Mukti Andolan that has been going on
in Nepal since the May 1st of this year.
Both Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary and Yagya Raj Chaudhary of the Backward Society Education (BASE)
have made stunning history in Nepal with their activism, with their unwavering leadership and with their relentless commitment to justice, to freedom and to the development of their ethnic Tharu group.
Sure, today's Cabinet decision is not the answer
to all of Kamaiyas' problems. But it's a major breakthrough for the continuing success of the
Andolan, when it comes to now-former Kamaiyas' figuring out their lande rights and other
related rights.
On a personal note, my special thanks to Dilli and Yagya for both their friendship and trust, and for entrusting Martin Chautari in Kathmandu with all the strategy work (from lobbying MPs to smoothing rough feathers of other organizations) for the FOCUSSED success of the Andolan.
And my most sincere gratitude to this network of very smart yet informal Martin Chautari colleagues -- notably, Bimal Aryal, Anil Bhattarai, Sujata Thapa, Pratyoush Onta, Ramesh Parajuli, Bhaskar Gautam, Rama Parajuli, Sanjog Rupakheti and others -- for entrusting me to make the best use of the Martin Chautari's resources to make the Andolan's "Kathmandu Part" successful. It's not everyday that one can come back to Nepal for a vacation, and end up spendiing time learning so much more by assisting to make an Andolan like this successful!!
oohi
ashu
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| ashu |
Posted
on 21-Jul-00 11:13 AM
Hi everyone,
The Kamaiya Mukti Andolan is in desperate
need of funds and gifts in kind to carry
out immediate, short-term emergency relief measures for the "bando.basta" of about 200,000 just-released bonded laborers.
Dilli has approached Red Cross and other organizations in Kathmandu for help,
but, clearly, much more help is needed.
That is why, adding to Dilli's efforts, it
would be of great help in Dang, Bardiya, Banke, Kailali, and Kanchanpur if those reading this in Boston and elsewhere
used this useful GBNC board to help decide how, if at all, they could also be of assistance to these Kamaiyas back home in
Nepal.
Meantime, my thanks to Sandeep Lama, GBNC's current president and other Council members, including the Web master San Pradhan, for their support of these various Kamaiya-related contributions to this site,
and also, on their own initiative,
giving some space to the issue in
the GBNC's latest newsletter.
Such help go a long way.
Meanime, Dilli can be reached via: chautari@mos.com.np
oohi
ashu
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| Ashu |
Posted
on 21-Jul-00 04:31 PM
As you now know, the first and crucial phase of the Kamaiya Mukti Andolan is done.
The government's decision has been hailed by most major and minor
political parties in Nepal.
Now the real work begins. That is, work on providing short-term emergency relief
measures, providing temporary housing, counseling, and other necessary support.
Long-term plans will begin to make sense through discussions and public debates once a Bill on the Kamaiyas soon starts making rounds in the Parliament. As always, Dilli and his organization BASE are leading these issues.
There's a big Victory Rally in Dhangadi, Kailali on Saun 15 ga.tay. That should
be interesting.
oohi
ashu
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