PaRCha - JNU - AISA material - 2006 ID-15999
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The streets of Kathmandu are shaking with the slogan, Gyane Chor, Desh Chhod (Gyanendra thief, leave the country). This vehement demand to abolish the monarchy in Nepal shows the incredible transformation of political consciousness in the country, where the people have travelled from venerating their monarch as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, to denouncing him as an obstacle to democratic rule. In the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx wrote that history repeats itselfthe first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. When Gyanendra butchered his family members in June 2001 to occupy the throne and then conducted a coup on February 1st, 2005, abolishing the parliamentary government, he was re-enacting the coup carried out by his father, King Mahendra, in 1960, which also toppled the parliamentary government of that time. Thus, despite coups and changes in rulers, we see a continuity over the past forty-five years in which the monarchy has continually suppressed or destroyed democratic governments, which it can only see as threats to its power. What remains yet to be seen is whether this new regime will indeed be a farce, or another tragedy. Despite the King Gyanendra and the monarchists attempts to crush any type of opposition through threats and violence, the past year has seen a brave and continual resistance put up by the Nepali people, who have repeatedly come out into the streets to denounce the monarchy and demanded the establishment of democracy in Nepal. Political groups of various ideological shades have united in their common demand to abolish the monarchy and this has put unprecedented pressure on the government. In the face of this wide and vehement demand for change, the scared monarchy recently decided to celebrate the anniversary of the February coup early by arresting 200 political leaders, cutting phone lines and internet connections, and spreading terror through the streets on January 20th of this year. This tyranical act only further dramatized the fact that the monarchy in Nepal has no interest in sharing power with any democratically-elected government. This brutal repression by the monarchy and the brave resistance shown by the Nepalese people are both signs of the fact that the current political battle in Nepal is moving beyond a simple push for the restoration of the half-monarchy, half-parliamentary government that existed before the coup; instead it has become a battle for complete abolishment of the monarchy and establishment of a multi-party parliamentary democracy. The United States government, true to its colors, supports a royal despot in Nepal, just as it uses the rhetoric of spreading democracy as a thin veil for its imperialist annexures of resource-rich countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite international criticism of its false claims and of its deliberate use of misinformation to justify its wars in the Middle East and South Asia, the US government continues to wage wars against the people of developing nations while its corporate bosses reap the financial benefits. .
Tonight, Keith Harmon Snow, a war correspondent, human rights investigator, and international American photojournalist will speak about American-British Empire Building: War On Terror, Invasion, Occupation. Snow has done extensive work on exposing American miltarism in Africa particularly Rwanda and the Congo and is currently in Delhi to display his photos of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which expose and document the terrifying brutality with which the American-British empire is attempting to crush resistance to its takeover. Since the beginning of the Iraq war, disturbing images such as photos of injured or killed American soldiers have been banned in the US, for fear that they might influence public opinion against the war. It has therefore been through the brave attempts of activists, journalists, and common people, including those living in the United States like Snow, that the deliberate lies and disinformation of the US government-media combine have been repeatedly exposed over the past few years. Whether it be the fallacious accusations of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the planting of pro-US news stories by the military in occupied areas, or the human rights abuses against detainees at Abu Gharib or the US gulags like Guantanamo Bay, the dirty underside of the American empire has continually been brought to light by these peoples work. .
On 1 March President George Bush is coming to India. Rather than denouncing the war criminal and architect of world-wide neoliberal reforms that devastate developing nations like India, the UPA government is hosting George Bush as a guest of honour and thus assuring its further compliance with US diktats. From the opening up of every possible sector of our economy to FDI, to joint Indo-US military exercises, to voting against Iran in the IAEA, Manmohan Singhs UPA government has knelt further and further down at the feet of US empire. If an American like Snow, coming from the heart of the empire, has the courage to stand up against his government and expose its crimes, then certainly we have the power to stand up and denounce our governments shameful capitulation to US power. .
.
PaRCha - JNU - AISA material - 2006 ID-15999
.
The streets of Kathmandu are shaking with the slogan, Gyane Chor, Desh Chhod (Gyanendra thief, leave the country). This vehement demand to abolish the monarchy in Nepal shows the incredible transformation of political consciousness in the country, where the people have travelled from venerating their monarch as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, to denouncing him as an obstacle to democratic rule. In the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx wrote that history repeats itselfthe first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. When Gyanendra butchered his family members in June 2001 to occupy the throne and then conducted a coup on February 1st, 2005, abolishing the parliamentary government, he was re-enacting the coup carried out by his father, King Mahendra, in 1960, which also toppled the parliamentary government of that time. Thus, despite coups and changes in rulers, we see a continuity over the past forty-five years in which the monarchy has continually suppressed or destroyed democratic governments, which it can only see as threats to its power. What remains yet to be seen is whether this new regime will indeed be a farce, or another tragedy. Despite the King Gyanendra and the monarchists attempts to crush any type of opposition through threats and violence, the past year has seen a brave and continual resistance put up by the Nepali people, who have repeatedly come out into the streets to denounce the monarchy and demanded the establishment of democracy in Nepal. Political groups of various ideological shades have united in their common demand to abolish the monarchy and this has put unprecedented pressure on the government. In the face of this wide and vehement demand for change, the scared monarchy recently decided to celebrate the anniversary of the February coup early by arresting 200 political leaders, cutting phone lines and internet connections, and spreading terror through the streets on January 20th of this year. This tyranical act only further dramatized the fact that the monarchy in Nepal has no interest in sharing power with any democratically-elected government. This brutal repression by the monarchy and the brave resistance shown by the Nepalese people are both signs of the fact that the current political battle in Nepal is moving beyond a simple push for the restoration of the half-monarchy, half-parliamentary government that existed before the coup; instead it has become a battle for complete abolishment of the monarchy and establishment of a multi-party parliamentary democracy. The United States government, true to its colors, supports a royal despot in Nepal, just as it uses the rhetoric of spreading democracy as a thin veil for its imperialist annexures of resource-rich countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite international criticism of its false claims and of its deliberate use of misinformation to justify its wars in the Middle East and South Asia, the US government continues to wage wars against the people of developing nations while its corporate bosses reap the financial benefits. .
Tonight, Keith Harmon Snow, a war correspondent, human rights investigator, and international American photojournalist will speak about American-British Empire Building: War On Terror, Invasion, Occupation. Snow has done extensive work on exposing American miltarism in Africa particularly Rwanda and the Congo and is currently in Delhi to display his photos of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which expose and document the terrifying brutality with which the American-British empire is attempting to crush resistance to its takeover. Since the beginning of the Iraq war, disturbing images such as photos of injured or killed American soldiers have been banned in the US, for fear that they might influence public opinion against the war. It has therefore been through the brave attempts of activists, journalists, and common people, including those living in the United States like Snow, that the deliberate lies and disinformation of the US government-media combine have been repeatedly exposed over the past few years. Whether it be the fallacious accusations of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the planting of pro-US news stories by the military in occupied areas, or the human rights abuses against detainees at Abu Gharib or the US gulags like Guantanamo Bay, the dirty underside of the American empire has continually been brought to light by these peoples work. .
On 1 March President George Bush is coming to India. Rather than denouncing the war criminal and architect of world-wide neoliberal reforms that devastate developing nations like India, the UPA government is hosting George Bush as a guest of honour and thus assuring its further compliance with US diktats. From the opening up of every possible sector of our economy to FDI, to joint Indo-US military exercises, to voting against Iran in the IAEA, Manmohan Singhs UPA government has knelt further and further down at the feet of US empire. If an American like Snow, coming from the heart of the empire, has the courage to stand up against his government and expose its crimes, then certainly we have the power to stand up and denounce our governments shameful capitulation to US power. .
.