In The Quest For Social Justice Feelings Are Going To Get Hurt

ND Dynamics
The Cloud Model, Not The Pyramid Model
ND Glasnost
Diaspora Logistical Help To The Movement
Logistics To Bring Down The Regime
To: ND Group, c/o Puru Subedi
Madhesi
Nepal Democracy Google Group Does Not Believe In Free Speech

I believe the discussions at the Nepal Democracy forum boil down to this:

(1) Join one of the five projects: Nepal 5, Nepal 1000.
(2) Critique the Proposed Constitution.

Progress is being made with all five projects. But I wish things were moving faster. And so I am going to confront one issue head on, the Madhesi-Pahadi issue.

Madhesis are a hugely marginalized group, surely in Nepal, but also in the mini Nepals in America. And the Madhesis in America need to take the lead on this, just like the Pahadis in America need to exhibit they are capable of a positive transformation on their part. They need to be working on their hearts.

I have been in New York City six months now. Before that I was in Kentucky and Indiana. And the small local Nepali communities there were not a big part of my life back there. I moved to Kentucky from Kathmandu. The anti-Madhesi fog in Kathmandu is too thick for me to have longingly hobnobbed with the local Nepalis in Kentucky, not that there were that many opportunities in the first place.

Moving to New York City alone would not have done the trick. If it were not for the democracy movement, I doubt I would have made a point to really reach out to the local Nepalis. I might have more comfortably gravitated towards the South Asian crowd. One of the better things about being in America for me has been discovering the Indian in me, giving it expression. When I travelled across America, and people asked me where I was from, I said India. Mostly they did not even ask, they just assumed, and they assumed right. I was born in India.

But the democracy movement has brought me crashing back to Nepal. In the process the biggest discovery I have made is to see again the sad political plight of the Madhesis in Nepal. The Terai is responsible for over 70% of the state revenue in Nepal, and gets less than 20% back, mostly in terms of payments for civil servants, most of whom are Pahadi in the first place. Madhesis are 50% of Nepal, and yet are super marginalized in all walks of life, kind of like the women on the planet.

So when I express my ire at the Nepal Democracy forum, I am making up for all the Madhesis that are not present at the forum. There are 116 members. Only one other is Madhesi that I know of. In a just world, you would have had 58 Madhesis. I feel like I am having to make up for the difference.

I can differentiate between the general b.s. and the anti-Madhesi prejudice. And I do exhibit that sophistication here: ND Dynamics. But there is no denying the anti-Madhesi prejudice. Just like the false anti-India-based nationalism of the Monarchists, the anti-Madhesi prejudice is a big part of the glue that brings and keeps the Bahuns/Pahadis together. It is sick. There is this utter reluctance to see a Madhesi in a leadership position, even more so if those Pahadis have to be members of any team that a Madhesi might lead. The very sugggestion is deemed offensive.

So far my interaction at the forum has been that of a foreign particle amidst white blood cells. I have listed a whole bunch of reasons why here: ND Dynamics. But the elephant in the room is the Madhesi-Pahadi issue. Of the 116 members of this self proclaimed "parliament," maybe two are Madhesi. That is even worse than the parliament that Nepal had. Looks to me like the more educated and accomplished these Pahadis/Bahuns get, more exclusive they become. The proof is in the pudding. The composition of this group is proof. And that composition generates hostility for someone like me.

It is a collective identity, individual identity thing. And I have explained that in a short story: Two Storey Building. I have also explained that on a larger scale here: A Few Diagrams.

One boring tactic is they attack you precisely because you are Madhesi, and then they go on this long trajectory about how it is nothing to do with your being Madhesi, it is about you, the individual. That is old hat. Try something a little more sophisticated. That dog is not going to hunt. And even if it is purely personal, I am putting up with it because?

These Pahadis/Bahuns are like birds that hit the glass window repeatedly in their individual career quests on a daily basis: such can be the promise of America. But then during their evenings and weekends, they find themselves in their mini Nepals. And they dig out their imported prejudices with a vengeance. They outdo their own inheritance.

I just visited the webpages of most of the prominent Nepali organizations in the US. There are hardly any Madhesi names in sight anywhere among the leadership. The Pahadis in the diaspora seem to fare even worse than the Pahadi government in Nepal. You have to ask, what is the social dynamic at play? What excludes? Why is there that 95-5 rule all places where the Madhesis interact with the Pahadis? Curiously that also applies to the diversity visa thing. That 95-5 rule applies also there.

The anti-Madhesi prejudice in Nepal is that fundamental. It is in the DNA of the country. That is why nothing less than major surgery is acceptable. Any Pahadi/Bahun against a constituent assembly and against federalism is on the other side, is an opponent, be they in Nepal or America.

I have little tolerance for Pahadis/Bahuns who talk of some kind of a personal bond, real, imagined, and/or exaggerated, that they might have with me or a few other Madhesis as evidence that things are okay, their heart is clean, Nepal is fine. You got to shift to policy talk. Federalism is that litmus test where you prove if you are for or against Madhesis.

And that is why Bahuns who drag their feet on the movement are proof these people secretly fantasize somehow the 1990 constitution can be brought back. Those are political opponents.

I am the only Nepali in America I know of who is doing movement work full time. I gave three years of my life to the Sadbhavana before I came to the US: the evil Bahuns at Budhanilkantha tried to kick me out three different times. That practically qualifies for child abuse. I got myself elected student president at college as a freshman in the Bible Belt South. I am active in local New York City politics. I don't know of any Nepali who is. I have plans for 2008. No other Nepali does. I have been working to present Nepal as the Iraq for the Democrats.

This movement in Nepal speaks to me at more than one level.

Too many individuals in other fields talk like politics is just common sense whereas rocket science is rocket science. The truth is politics is more complicated than chemistry. So, yes, politically speaking I am the most qualified Nepali in America, second to none.

People have asked this question, who is the leader at this end? I have consistently proposed a model where there is no leader. (The Cloud Model, Not The Pyramid Model) If your glow is your activity level, then I sure am the brightest star in the galaxy. If that makes me the leader, so be it. Live with it. But I insist, there truly is no leader. All discussions and book keeping stay transparent. Within that framework, every interested person can hope to get involved to the extent they want to, time permitting.

There is no pyramid, there is a galaxy, and I do come across as a bright star, don't I? Give as much time as I do, and you too can hope to become one. The problem is not that there are too many workers. It has been the other way round. So stop whining. Instead volunteer.

People instead make relentless attacks on the idea of a possible Madhesi leader. They can get really creative when doing that. Like with fundraising, there has been this major hue and cry about my first attempt. I supported all other ideas for the same, but those ideas have not been carried out, at least not yet. If your alternate ideas are better for you, go work them out. Money is green no matter how it is raised.

A few volunteer to heap verbal abuse over the phone, and get likewise response. Stick to the online forum.

Some become crybabies. When you challenge their prejudiced hearts, you really hurt their feelings. They make it sound like you deprived them of their justly due brotherly love. What instead is happening is old, prejudiced bonds are breaking, and that breaking is necessary. To make room for new, progressive, egalitarian, mutually respectful bonds. So don't whine and cry. Pick yourself up and keep moving. We are not family, but maybe we can be comrades.

This diagram helps understand. The social bonds at the bottom have to necessarily be broken so both groups - the oppressor and the oppressed - can move up to healthier interaction at the higher levels.

And then those who feign surprise, I thought he was a nice guy, he comes across as such in person. Well, this forum is work to me, hard core political work. When I say hello to you for 10 seconds, that might have been socializing.