March 19, 2005
guess who's not coming to dinner...
A nice bit of unexpected and unseasonal rain has knocked down the ever-present dust of Kathmandu, and everyone will breathe a little easier for a day or two. Yesterday, the international donor community issued an official statement calling on both the Maoists and security forces to uphold human rights; that it is their duty to ensure that civilians have access to essential humanitarian supplies and that medical emergencies are given free passage at all times. Children are especially threatened—supplies of vaccines, vitamin A capsules, de-worming tablets and essential drugs have been held up, and must reach rural areas over the coming months to prevent wholly unavoidable deaths, the international donor community commented. Within the past weeks there have been reports of women dying in childbirth because of restrictions on movement, and many other incidents of humanitarian and development activities being restricted, stopped or threatened by parties of the conflict…
The British Foreign Office has suspended 1 million in aid for police and security forces; Condi and the US are still pushing for the Indian government to take the lead in restoring multi-party democracy to Nepal (something the Nepalis really do not like!) and the US Ambassador to Nepal has been having meetings this week with several recently released party leaders—including the deposed prime minister—about which King Gyanendra appointed Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers complained, and I quote: “why am I never invited to these dinner parties.”
Reports from the districts are trickling in. Disgruntled villagers in hard hit areas have been forming their own vigilante groups—armed with sticks and stones—and have been seeking their own revenge on Maoist groups that have terrorized their villages. The palace is apparently and tacitly supporting and encouraging these groups. Caught in the middle are villagers that are forced to attend Maoist “meetings” only to be threatened, and in some cases beaten up, by these vigilante groups and security forces… And at the same time, King Gyanendra still refuses to bring the Maoists to the negotiating table.
A culture of frustration and violence permeates the country—a sad development given the historically peaceful nature of Nepal. In Kathmandu, we live in a bubble, rarely affected to the extent of people in the districts with the exception of fluctuation in prices, shortages of some commodities and difficulties in transportation, but these sort of difficulties pale in comparison to threats on one’s live and survival. What nature of atonement awaits Nepal?
In this general milieu, it is difficult to think about and prepare new development projects or even continue with the implementation of ongoing ones. Aasaman, I believe, is doing its best with current projects in the field, which is testament to the hard work and neutrality of our social mobilizers and child rights protectors in the field—they make themselves known to Maoists and security forces alike and focus on the beneficiaries. Still, our discussions on starting up projects in new districts/areas are tricky at this point given both the situation in the country and the wait-and-see approach of many donor agencies…
Yet, I continue to do what I can. I have scheduled a 3-day organizational assessment at the end of April (to be held in the south of the country, even) that will bring together 16 staff members, at least 12 beneficiaries and will include my own interviews with our donors and staff. The output of this assessment will hopefully help us produce a document that will steer the organization’s internal development in the coming years.
March 12, 2005
The Common Meal
Some of the familiar methods of awareness-raising and advocacy among civil society organizations working for the upliftment of dalits and eradicating social discrimination in Nepal is to perform street dramas, participate in mass rallies and hold something called common meals where men and women of all castes can sit down with one another, converse freely and enjoy a meal together. The common meal is aimed at breaking down notions of untouchability and jutho (impurity) still prevalent among many Hindus in Nepal. These norms are particularly conservative with regards to food—in the countryside it is common that dalits are refused entry to teahouses (or are made to bring their own cup) and restaurants.
While the efficacy and impact of such events is questionable and not well documented, I have personally witnessed groups of dalit women marching through the streets of their villages to the Hindu temple demanding entry brought to tears once they step foot inside and are allowed to worship, and have observed groups of dalits and higher castes partaking of meals together in remote regions while sitting on the ground cross-legged and taking their food from simple, disposable plates fashioned out of leaves. Questions of impact and efficacy aside, these simple measures—and demanding of rights—seemed to have had a profound bearing on the lower caste participants themselves.
Out of curiosity, tonight I attended a common meal event in Kathmandu hosted by a large Nepalese NGO working in dalit rights and advocacy held at the Birendra International Convention Center (the only venue of its kind in Nepal) and attended by newly appointed ministers in His Majesty’s government—not the most common of venues nor guest lists. The event included a long list of speakers touting what should be done to uplift the condition of dalits in Nepal and declarations to do so at all costs. Upon the completion of speeches and kudos as the crowd moved outside for the meal portion of the event, myself and a small group of foreigners who work with Nepali NGOs were approached by a group of dalit students who opposed the night’s proceedings (conspicuously absent from the night’s events were some of the bigger INGOs themselves even the INGO whose funds sponsored the event!). The dalit student group passed out leaflets outlining their opposition to the event: a waste of funds that could be used in dalit communities themselves; the absence of any dalit speakers who could attest to the real and abysmal conditions of dalit communities; no real agenda/concrete action plan put forward as to how the civil society organizations would uplift the condition of dalit communities and uphold laws against “untouchability;” an attempt by the NGO/civil society community to “pat themselves on the back” by holding such an event.
In general, I sympathized with the dalit students because of my own background in more radical approaches to human rights and couldn’t have agreed with them more, discerning that the event mainly served as a means of highlighting what one NGO was doing to uplift the condition of dalits (with little details of their successes or failures) heavy on rhetoric of how more efforts should be put into dalit rights-based approaches with no concrete action plan put forward. Inviting recently appointed ministers in light of current curtailed human rights and abuses in some sense smacked of hypocrisy and served as a slap in the face of activists and dalit and other marginalized communities themselves. At the same time, however, awareness-raising and advocacy activities, I believe, must reach all levels of society from the bottom to the top for real change to occur and must seek to implement an integrated approach that uniformly impacts all castes and strata of society. While dalit and other marginalized communities are willing and eager to take measures to uplift their own condition, awareness raising efforts must also include components which reach out to all castes, particularly in an effort to demonstrate how caste discrimination has a harmful affect on the overall development of Nepal. Certainly, equality and adherence to basic human rights needs no justification; however, a collaborative, inter-caste approach is the best means towards abolishing the scourge of untouchability and caste-based discrimination. Open dialogue amongst all castes and social change activists from both lower and upper caste communities will go a long way towards promoting and facilitating equitable, sustainable and positive changes in the human condition. It could also be argued that the dalit student group themselves failed to forward their own plans and solutions; instead opting to focus on the shortcomings of the event. Could it not be maintained, then, that the student group is equally complicit in not addressing the real needs of dalit communities? Is there not a means by which all forces can join hands in the fight to eradicate social discrimination?
Without knowing the particulars of how much money when into organizing and holding the common meal program, it would be hard for me to criticize the event as a waste of funding. If the event amounted to only a small fraction of funding, then it could be argued that it was held as a means of sharing lessons learned and best practices and the floor could have been opened for a question and answer session. As the afternoon transpired, however, it became painfully apparent that none of that was on the agenda, and the event served very little purpose. As far as the meal itself, people mingled a bit on the soggy grounds outside the convention center as they ate their meal, but not much else happened… Perhaps a few people were moved by the speeches and vowed to either take up or continue the fight for dalit rights and ending all caste-based discrimination, but in the end, dalits themselves remain mostly far off in remote villages and in congested zones of poverty and inequality.
All dalit-focused projects should be designed and implemented bearing in mind that interventions are short-term whereas the development process is continuous. All efforts, therefore, should incorporate a strategy that both enables participants to maintain and continue a project as long as it is needed and to manage a development process that will lead to other community-initiated development efforts. All dalit upliftment efforts should be constant with this principle. All efforts must include an integrated basis of awareness raising and training to increase local understanding of dalit and lower caste rights and the harmful anti-development effects of caste discrimination and to reduce instances of discriminatory behavior; thereby, enabling greater access to the public sphere, educational and economic opportunities for dalit and other marginalized communities by working directly with community-based associations and allied groups from all walks of life. These are inherently sustainable actions and worthy of funding and support. Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, the common meal will become just that—common.
March 10, 2005
shivaratri revisited
Shivaratri revisited: devotion, extortion, hash and homemade fireworks all in one
The world’s sadhus are in town—stoking up their hash pipes and their willy sticks at the ready along with other yogic props that come with being a devotee of Shiva—for the upcoming Shivaratri or night of Shiva. They’re a gnarly bunch with their trisuli (think Poseidon’s pitchfork), alms bucket and matted dreadlocks—sometimes curled on top of their heads in a beehive and sometimes hanging freely down their backs. They’re certainly a happy—ah, meditative that is—lot perched as they are on the side of the hill overlooking the Pashupati temple, pilgrims bathing in the holy river and burning cremation ghats. One would have to be in a pretty mellow state with so much death and celebration and devotion happening simultaneously… Of course, Kathmandu has its decent share of all year fair weather sadhus wandering about town eager to slap a tika on your forehead, and will do so without asking, or to have their picture taken for a price. They’re easy to spot with the freshly laundered saffron robes, but there’s nothing quite like the real show on Shiva’s night.
Last year, Shivaratri occurred just after I had arrived in country and I waded through the temple complex on the actual night. This year I made the trip a few days earlier with friends of mine visiting from out of town to avoid the overwhelming crowds that pack into the area on the night of Shiva. There were sadhus sprawled out pretty much everywhere: some napping under shady trees, some stoking their campfires on the hillside overlooking the cremation ghats and others holding court in front of the hundreds of many shiva temples that dot the top of the ridge. There was even one sadhu suckling a baby monkey—obviously taking Shiva’s incarnation of Pashupati (protector of the beasts) to heart. The monkey would retrieve his alms, give a good once going over and then drop it into a small tin bucket. It’s quite the spectacle for Nepali visitors as much for foreigners although Nepalis are doubly interested to see the sadhus and, as a bonus, how foreigners deal with the sadhus.
Shivaratri is also the one day of the year that children all over Nepal are allowed to extort as much money as possible from passersby on the street. Groups of children string a rope across roads and won’t allow pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles and in some instances vehicles to pass without extracting some money in return. It’s all quite good-natured in the morning even though groups of ten kids at each blockage can quickly add up after a while… One needs a lot of small coins and bills handy to get anywhere. This year, I bought a small bag of sweets—opting instead to rot children’s teeth some might argue—to pass out in lieu of cash. This went well in the morning, but by afternoon it tends to be the older kids demanding money, and it can take quite a bit of negotiation to pass through. Of course, many Nepali adults are doing the same thing, but it’s a lot more interesting for them to watch me deal with it.
Shivaratri is supposed to be the night of bonfires as well, so there is plenty of smoke wafting through our neighborhood this evening. In some parts of Nepal, people make their own fireworks by lighting stalks of sugarcane, slapping them down hard on the ground and then watching the sparks fly—a kind of organic sparkler.
Happy Shivaratri!