This post is different from our usual focus at The Araniko Project. But as Nepali co-founders watching the chaos unfold from Beijing, it is difficult to remain silent and feel the need to share some reflections on the aftermath of the past two days of protest.
This post is only about Nepal. If you want to know what happened in the past 48 hrs, please read Kalam Weekly
What we witnessed in these past two days in Nepal is a war of two worlds. On one side stand the old regimes and their old netas, with their outdated mindset of conducting daily public affairs. Until just 48 hours ago, they were the invincibles. Now, Nepal’s ruling elites stand among the fallen: disgraced and deposed, fleeing for their lives with almost no path back to the political stage.
On the other side lies the outlook for a “new Nepal,” which has not yet even been born. There is still no certainty (as of this writing) as to who will lead the interim government. And while the protestors relish on the carnage of 9/9, is there any guarantee this will turn out better?
Mercilessly beating politicians nearly to death, burning a former Prime Minister’s wife, vandalizing the streets, and destroying public property: these are no longer Gen Z protests. These are hooligans, who in their desperation and anger failed to see the evil in themselves. If its the outlook for “new Nepal,” then what is the difference between the upcoming “new” and the already “old”? We can only hope we don’t end up with the worst of both worlds.
In the digital age, network power such as social media has challenged traditional state authority, as seen in the Gen Z protest that led to the resignation of Prime Minister K.P. Oli. But such network power can only challenge and overthrow; it cannot successfully govern a country. It also needs a stable structure and well functioning bureaucracy.
That is where the greatest challenge lies. The protestors have burned down Singha Durbar (the country’s administrative center and repository of key government records), the Supreme Court, educational institutions, Nepal Telecom, banks, hotels, large corporations, and even media institutions like Kanitpur: essentially every major structural institution shaping Nepal’s functioning has collapsed. Thousands of papers, documentations, gone in seconds! prisoners escaped from prison!
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