Picking Flowers on the Moon

Synthetic incense is the aromatic equivalent of the plastic flower -- an assault on reality. What incense does to the nose, plastic flowers do to the eyes. 

The world is saturated with the not-so-naked ape's pollutants. Burning incense has the ill-effects of burning plastic flowers…both infuse fresh oxygen with toxins and produce a wildly synthetic odor. Why create something flagrantly unnatural? 

A plastic flower is not 'a rose by any other name'...it's synthetic deception and exceedingly poor deception at that...unnatural incense contaminates the air we breathe, particularly when burned in enclosed spaces (cough-hack-gasp).

Burning incense for purification paradoxically ends up polluting the ecosystem. To thine own Mother Nature can humans continue to be so untrue?
  Better to pick flowers on the moon -- far, far away from fatuous human endeavor, wayward Homo sapiens machinations and endless toil on earth.

#Pollution #Incense #NotSoNakedApe

Independence Day for All

Never a better decision than to disentangle from the smarmy Kingdom of Great Britain.

The USA did it violently. India did it (relatively) non-violently.

Best of fortunes to Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and yes, even you, too, Eggland.

Monument in Nebraska, USA

#Independence #USA #India #Eggland

Re: A Sub-Optimal Draft

With all due respect to Mr. Dixit, his claim in A Sub-Optimal Draft that the Maoist rebels took up arms against an ‘elected democratic state’ is historically inaccurate.

Lest we forget, King Birendra was head of state then with considerable executive powers. Moreover, they were barred from participation (within a constitutional monarchy) in a national election in 1996. Shutting them out of the so-called democratic process brought the call to arms to a boiling point (along with continual harassment by an establishment with unmerited status and power and an epoch of bureaucratic malfeasance that has Nepal in an endless bandh). Simply, it was not exactly the pretty picture of an ‘elected democratic state’ (and since when has a functional version of that ever been seen?)

Additionally, every major party in Nepal has used violence at some point, the Maoist rebels are not an oddball exception. In fact, ‘armed revolt’ in the draft's Preamble might just as easily refer to practices of other major parties including revolt against the party-less Panchayat System (does an armed hijacking of a plane masterminded by G.P. Koirala ring any bells?), skirmishes with the British East India Company, rebellion against the authoritarian Rana Dynasty, and riotous, mass protests against the royal crown -- Jana Andolan I & II. Dixit's claim that it refers only to the Maoists does a disservice to all whom fought for freedom and democracy.

In truth, as a result of the seven party alliance toward the end of the revolution, the monarchy was abolished and a democratic republic was born. Had it not been for the revolution it is likely that the debate on a constitution would not have come this far, regardless of how messy it is now.

The popular narrative lays disproportionate blame on the Maoists, and media darlings persistently feed this false narrative. Societal ills have been fermenting for centuries, and are not likely to be disentangled by the 'sub-optimal' mindset that brewed them. 

#MediaDarlings #Maoists #KathmanduPost #FreeNepal 

'Dead Aid' by Dambisa Moyo

The following is a chilling excerpt from Dambisa Moyo's website: http://dambisamoyo.com/publications-articles-videos/books/dead-aid/

"In the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans? No. In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse.

In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth.

In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined—and millions continue to suffer. Provocatively drawing a sharp contrast between African countries that have rejected the aid route and prospered and others that have become aid-dependent and seen poverty increase, Moyo illuminates the way in which overreliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the “need” for more aid.

Debunking the current model of international aid, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world’s poorest countries that guarantees economic growth and a significant decline in poverty—without reliance on foreign aid or aid-related assistance.

Dead Aid is an unsettling yet optimistic work, a powerful challenge to the assumptions and arguments that support a profoundly misguided development policy in Africa. And it is a clarion call to a new, more hopeful vision of how to address the desperate poverty that plagues millions."

#DeadAid #DambisaMayo #AidRiddenNepal #DonorDarlings #FreeNepal

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: [Shamefully] Awkward Moment

Brilliant wordsmith Mahabir Paudyal very perceptively describes the open dirty secrets that everyone already knows about and from which lethal suffering results...Office holders and government and I/NGO administrators have for decades robbed able and talented Nepalis of a chance to move Nepal forward with their own dreams, capabilities and efforts.

The following are excerpts from Awkward Moment, an Op-Ed in My Republica, 23 June 2015:  

"Most of what happens within these agencies—such as how most things they do is limited to paperwork, how only staffs benefit from grants and assistance—remain hidden. INGOs are often manned by privileged people who are often critical of the government but defend their position or stay quiet for fear of losing their privilege."
"One doubts government ministers and donor representatives will be able to visualize these disturbing images while they are shaking hands, faking smiles, exchanging pleasantries, and serving or being served with sumptuous meals inside a comfortable hotel in Kathmandu."
"It will be no surprise if the conference ends up being a mere ritual."

#MahabirPaudyal #MyRepublica #NepalQuake #Nepal #Corruption #FreeNepal