'Blockade Politics in Nepal'

Another interesting piece by Thomas Bell (Blockade Politics in Nepal, Al Jazeera, 09 OCT 15), although I'm not sure that any country deserves (or wants to claim) much credit for a torturous “10-year peace process” resulting in an unsatisfactory constitution.

Most diplomats and politicians in Nepal play a self-serving game of realpolitik as salt is pouring into the heavy wounds of the year--shamefully as Dashain (Nepal's most important festival) approaches.

“Like the snowy Himalaya
The virtuous shine from afar.
And the wicked move unseen
Even When Near
Like arrows in the night.”
– from the Dhammapada (Pakinnakavagga) of Sakyamuni Buddha born in Lumbini, Rupandehi District, Nepal

Photo by Alonzo Lyons

#Nepal, #ThomasBell, #Dhammapada

'Nepal pushes to finalise constitution despite concerns'

Continued insightful coverage on Nepal by Al Jaz…leave it to the expert reporters Saif Khalid assisted by Anuraj Acharya, and especially T. Bell and M. Hutt -- trustworthy Buddha-eyes on Nepal.

my response to the article on Al Jaz website was the following:

excellent reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.

excellent reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.
http://alolyo.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-from-ground-on-down.html

image taken from: http://fakebuddhaquotes.com/chill-homie-you-need-to-let-that-shit-go/ reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.http://alolyo.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-from-ground-on-down.html

cellent reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.

http://alolyo.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-from-ground-on-down.html

excellent reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.
http://alolyo.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-from-ground-on-down.html

excellent reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.
http://alolyo.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-from-ground-on-down.html

excellent reporting. would that I/NGOs and other  foreign agents pull out support for the charade. most continue to subsidize it unknowingly, and thus the establishment carries on same as it ever did with sustenance flowing in from international players. unfortunately, a windfall amount could change everything indelibly...perhaps for the worst. now is the time to call for evidence-based aid with transparency from top to bottom. is proof of aid's actions, cash-flow and effectiveness too much to ask? otherwise, a vulgar amount of funds might drive down and disenfranchise an impoverished people even more,  people without an advocate and without representation.
http://alolyo.blogspot.com/2015/08/working-from-ground-on-down.html

RE: Do they have what it takes to rebuild Nepal? ...in other words, coitus interruptus

Another perceptive article by Mister Bell. One bone of contention is his curious opinion that “the government and donors…deserve great sympathy and consideration”…for the very problems their coital relationship has spawned.

Heaps of profiteering on the backs of average citizens “deserves great sympathy and consideration” because...the bullies are experiencing conjugal problems (coitus interruptus between the donors and government) of how to move forward with…likely more of the same? Six decades of feeding off impoverished citizens is enough.

The Nepali people have long been without a champion, those who come to assist often end up aligning with patriarchal, ruling conservatives and the entitled establishment (with unmerited power and privilege), thus perpetuating a deathly tragedy.

With over 100,000 I/NGOs operating in Nepal, and sixty years of ‘development work’ you might imagine it to be a dazzling gem of advancement on par with Switzerland…instead, Nepal has been stagnant if not backsliding. The only thing that appears to be dazzling are the salaries, perks and lifestyle of the ‘donor darlings’ and the ruling class and government functionaries fostered by ‘aid’.

In fact, rather than receiving sympathy and consideration, the bullies themselves would do well to have sympathy and consideration for the society from which they profit, especially considering that their lucrative employment places them in the top 1% of the society that they traveled overseas to change.

The 99% have to put up with INGO bullies and the government bullies they undergird -- a government bottom feeding in annual corruption indices. Let the I/NGOs and diplomats at least consider that over half century of aid has propped up and bolstered the myopic old-guard ideology and its oppressive ways and means with lethal results.

Conservative rulers have dominated for centuries, and their leadership has done immeasurable harm to Nepal. Yet, wayward leaders and their entourage are continually able to bend the ears, minds and hearts of diplomats, donors and expats in their favor (often fueled by drinking rumpuses and banquet dinners).

The dereliction of office is tantamount to waging war on Nepali citizens. The real effects of malfeasance can certainly be as ravenous as war (e.g., sections of Kathmandu, including the Bagmati and Vishnumati rivers were post-apocalyptic pre-quake).

Is it then too far-fetched to suggest that blood is also on the hands of the ‘donor darlings’ and diplomats for abetting (knowingly or through lethal ignorance) a dysfunctional system that imperils the general population causing harm and suffering up to death of men, women, children and infants?

They have even driven many sons and daughters out of Nepal--robbed of opportunity in their motherland--to take on great risks and unmanageable loans to pursue work abroad. Frequently, they end up as slaves with no homeland representation, and on average, over thirty people die every month and their corpses are sent home in body bags.

The Nepali people don’t need to have sympathy for the bullies in government and from abroad interfering and throwing up obstacles and prolonging hopes of real change for the better.

Remove the deadweight, cancerous bureaucrats, politicians and I/NGOs and give the people the freedom to follow their own dreams with their own capabilities and efforts unencumbered by smarmy donors, diplomats and politicians.

#ThomasBell #NepalQuake #Corruption #FreeNepal 

I/NGO Bullies and Tumors They Envenom

Cheers to T. Bell for another insightful article. Donors and the aid cohort would do well to contemplate its message aimed with expert marksmanship directly at them and the cancerous government that they foster.

One minor bone of contention with the piece is the opinion that Nepal’s civil war is partially to blame for lack of development and progress.
At first blush that might seem obviously true, but is that really the correct conclusion to draw about that dynamic period of engagement?

After all, the war was incubated and fought, according to revolutionaries, to remove obstacles to development—a battle they believed was waged against patriarchal, old-guard values, corruption and oppression that have crippled the country and economy for the foreseeable past. Maybe rather than stifling development, the revolution instigated it by systemically shocking the body politic.

That said, there are few to no foreigners who have anything but discouraging words and notions about the Maoists. The popular narrative lays disproportionate blame on the Maoists. They are summarily condemned, not the least because of a very poor branding (many of Mao’s policies have been disabused, even in the People’s Republic of China) and because Nepali conservatives (dominant in the media and public and private sector) with vested interests antithetical to the rebels are able to bend the ears, minds and hearts (and clink glasses in all too frequent drinking rumpuses) of diplomats and expat crowd.

It is easy to elicit reflexive head nods of assent by criticizing the revolutionaries and blaming them for societal ills that were actually centuries in the making.

Does the author truly believe that there would have been anything but more of the same business as usual in that ten year interregnum from 1996-2006 had there been no conflict? In fact, in the rest of the article he widely and rightly condemns the status quo for misdeeds and misappropriations during pre- and post-war periods. Would the state have behaved any more productively for development without the revolution? Conversely, perhaps the revolution even put the brakes on malfeasance and graft for a spell.

The way things had been going up until 1996, all seemed on a trajectory for more of the same, essentially, more unmerited blessings for office holders and the entitled sliver of society and few to no blessings for the majority of the population. In fact, it might be contended that the war in part ameliorated an epoch of wrongdoing with regards to personal rights, particularly for women and people outside the ranks of the ruling gang.

Up to the war and still even to this day, many non-privileged groups have faced deep discrimination akin to apartheid. Conservative rulers (informed by the Hindu religion and its casteism) have dominated for centuries, and their leadership has done heavy harm to Nepal. They truly have squandered the chance to be genuine leaders and have generally opted to exploit personal avarice. In fact, is it too far-fetched to suggest that their derelict leadership has in itself been akin to a war on Nepal? Haven’t the physical effects been as ravenous (e.g., certain sections of Kathmandu, including the Bagmati and Vishnumati rivers were post-apocalyptic pre-quake).

All things considered, despite the heavy and tragic toll on life and property, the revolution at least ousted the royal crown creeping toward tyrannical rule, and a democratic republic was born. The revolution also raised useful questions including the re-drawing of boundaries within the state to be more representative. Whether all that might have happened if there had been no rebellion pushing it to a boiling point is anyone’s guess, but in my modest estimate, without taking up arms, an otherwise extremely passive people with no leverage and little say would not have effected any more change than they had for the previous centuries. What has happened post-bellum is an entirely different topic, and the Maoists certainly share considerable blame for the continued gridlock and poor administration of the state.

Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life, and keep in mind the state was responsible for more civilian deaths than the rebels, it can be argued that the revolution was a catalyst for change relative to other periods.

#ThomasBell #NepalQuake #Corruption #FreeNepal 

RE: A Small Step Forward in Nepal

What a refreshingly well-written and insightful opinion piece by an informed and talented Thomas Bell. As hinted at by Bell, an unfortunate effect of quake philanthropy will be abetting a dysfunctional government and status quo.

Wayward officials and factotums have long used their station and leverage to look after their own interests and their own kin, kith and wider entourage in a self-serving way rather than acting as proper functionaries and serving the whole community impartially. They have imprisoned Nepal in an endless bandh – a country under the thumb of its own unethical administrators and an oppressive societal structure with paralyzing entitlements.

Office holders and administrators have robbed able and talented Nepalis of a chance to move Nepal forward with their own dreams, capabilities and efforts. Poor governance has fatally prolonged development and has endowed the nation with chronic poverty and the troubles it brings of ill-health, hunger, malnutrition, lack of education, lack of opportunity, exploitation, suffering, injury, disease and premature death.

With the exception of necessary emergency relief, taking away foreign aid and intervention might be the best chance to pull the plug on cancerous politicians, cannibalistic bureaucrats and their accomplices whom aid otherwise enables and empowers. 

#ThomasBell #NepalQuake #Nepal #Corruption #FreeNepal