| Username |
Post |
| smp |
Posted
on 29-Apr-02 06:38 PM
A 47 minute piece on Nepal on NPR
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=04%2F29%2F2002&PrgID=5
click on the link called nepal/china, or
to dowload the soundbit directly
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/totn/20020429.totn.02.ram
smp
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| smp |
Posted
on 29-Apr-02 06:41 PM
Actually it is a half hour piece.
smp
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| Kancho |
Posted
on 29-Apr-02 11:53 PM
Thanks for that link. I caught a piece of it while driving this afternoon.
Interesting show!
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 03:19 AM
Thanks SMP for the link. Just listened to it. Very interesting. Cathy March's explanations were predictable for an academic, but I was very surprised and impressed with Daniel Lak's introductory remarks. They were affectionate and accurate.
Hardly ever read his Nepali Times columns. Avoided it consciously, arrogantly thinking what could this fast balding Canadian possibly tell me anything new about my own land? And having heard him file reports for the BBC from Islamabad and seen him quietly munching a tuna sandwich in London's Bush House, circa 1996, he never struck me as remarkable.
Well, not anymore. Mr. Lak, I will read you from now on quite religiously, and please wash away my sins for ignoring you irrationally in the past!! And thanks also for making Nepal your karma-bhumi at the moment.
Poor BBC correspondents in South Asia have always had a hard act to follow with the influential Mark Tully having been the Beeb's authoritative voice for the subcontinent for 20 years until 1992. Can and will Lak be the next Tully?
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| Binay |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 09:07 AM
Great link! Glad that I visited the link and listened to the program, thanks SMP.
Very thoughtful and informed analysis from Daniel Lak. I am really impressed with his thoughts on how feudalism is rooted in the aristocracy and the statecraft even after the restoration of democracy in 1990. However, one wonders how this is different from the reality of other countries: rural-urban differences, regional differences, and elite appropriation of state resources. This is not to say that we should be indifferent, but to get into more informed accounts of how these started and are now ingrained in the system. I must, however, regret Daniel's hesitation to recommend others visiting Nepal at this moment.
Kathryn March's comments were not as interesting as I expected, but her comments on land-grant and forced labor system tell the harsh reality of our feudal system.
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| smp |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 09:18 AM
Kancho and Paschim,
You are much welcome fellas! I too thought it was an interesting piece but I had some issues with it. For starters, the making of pro-peace stances and the drawing of a parrallel between the middle east crisis and the maoist insurgency by some of the callers towards the end was problematic for me since I felt that those issues were left quite unchallenged and perhaps as concluding remarks or something very similar to that even by Lak and other participants. Naivity on some level as well as double standard perhaps. Or those were at least my intial reactions. What did you guys think?
Paschim, I thought your other piece was pretty cool by the way. Keep writing. The exotic scenary of the far east must provide ample inspiration. :)
smp
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| UG |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 01:51 PM
Thanks SMP for the link. It was the best discussion I've heard about (Maoist movement) Nepal in recent times. I also attended some forum in DC about Maoist, but this was way better and much more informative in such a short period. This is a MUST listen piece for all Nepalese and friends of Nepal. I'm guilty of ignoring this link before. Thanks for other guys' comments that made me visit this link. And I'm very surprised by the number of visits by shajaites (assuming they write feedback after listening to it).
Please visit the link above provided by SMP. You don't want to miss this wealth of info about Nepal.
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| Kancho |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 02:46 PM
Katherine March and Lak both didn't want the US to provide Nepal any military aid. I wonder if that is such a good idea right now when Maoist are going on a rampant destruction.
The background of the movement given by Daniel Lak was pretty good.
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| Puru Subedi |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 09:53 PM
Thanks for the clip. Great program. I have been to couple of talk programs (separately organized by ANS and NHRC-USA) in DC area on this topic and we recently organized one at GMU ourselves. I think, I have learned great deal about Maoist problem from these talk programs. By listening to speakers, I am convinced that the best way to solve this problem is to bring Maoist to peace table again and resolve it politically. Use of military force is only temporary solution. I have to agree that if the $40M US aid is used for the development programs in the remote villages and some sort of peace/economy empowerment plan rather than for military, it will have long lasting effect in restoring peace. Well, this my conclusion from what I have learned so far about the problem and there could still be much more to learn. You may disagree with my views. Both the government and Maoist should give peace a second chance. Enough poor Nepalis on the both side have already died because of their leaders power struggle and propagandas.
I see an urgent need for some country/international agency to be a mediator and bring these two forces to talk table. US branch of Amnesty International has started a peace campaign recently. Mr. T. Kumar, the director of AI US branch (Asia section) announced the campaign at the talk program in GMU. He distributed post cards that had letters to Mr. Deuba and Mr. Bush and requested eveyone to mail the card to them. I will post the text of the letter if it is available in electronic form.
-PS
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| uks |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 11:25 PM
One thing that constantly bothers me is why we are so naive to think that Maoists will so easily give up their armed struggle. Let's accept the FACT-- they have been able to gain quite a view military points. We might hear of many "maoists" dying, but I doubt if more than a handful are senior level leaders. In this scenario, why are we expecting them to come to the mainstream? What are we willing to forgo? Are we ready for constitutional assembly? If the answer to the last question is no, what is the compelling reason for them to join the mainstream then? If I were a Maoist, I wouldn't have given up so easily when "we" were able to inflict so much damage to "our" enemies...... it's very easy to say that BAARTA is the best option.....is it really so?......let's be realistic.......just some random thoughts........
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| uks |
Posted
on 30-Apr-02 11:26 PM
One thing that constantly bothers me is why we are so naive to think that Maoists will so easily give up their armed struggle. Let's accept the FACT-- they have been able to gain quite a few military points. We might hear of many "maoists" dying, but I doubt if more than a handful are senior level leaders. In this scenario, why are we expecting them to come to the mainstream? What are we willing to forgo? Are we ready for constitutional assembly? If the answer to the last question is no, what is the compelling reason for them to join the mainstream then? If I were a Maoist, I wouldn't have given up so easily when "we" were able to inflict so much damage to "our" enemies...... it's very easy to say that BAARTA is the best option.....is it really so?......let's be realistic.......just some random thoughts........
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