Rosencranz Strikes in Nepal
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Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world today. The tiny country, landlocked between China and India, suffers from a 42% unemployment rate and struggles to feed its own citizens, 31% of who live beneath the poverty line. 76% of the labor force is employed in an underdeveloped and inefficient agricultural sector. Nepal, like any state harboring 28 million souls on the verge of starvation, is a country ripe for internal conflict and strife. The country has splashed across the headlines over the past several weeks with stories of pro-democracy protests against the Nepalese monarch King Gyanendra. There is more to this story than the selective reporting of the major media, however.
The background of the Nepalese royal family would provide ample fodder for a Shakespeare tragedy. King Gyanendra was named to the crown in 2001 after a few short days acting as regent for his comatose nephew—the crown prince—who had just attempted suicide after killing the former monarch and royal family in a shooting spree. Gyanendra, the head of state under Nepal’s constitutional monarchy, has had a rough ride since 2001. Deep divisions among Nepal’s seven political parties have essentially paralyzed Parliament, preventing it from enacting any meaningful legislation. Maoist “insurgent” forces have escalated violent attacks and intimidation across the countryside and spread anti-Gyanendra rhetoric aimed at undermining what little stability the country can claim.
In February 2005, a flustered Gyanendra declared a national state of emergency, dismissed the government, and instituted direct royal rule. According to Leon Weil, former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, “For weeks, phone and Internet lines were blocked, independent news organizations were shut down, right of assembly was suspended, and political leaders were placed under house arrest.” Eventually parliamentary government was restored, with the seven opposition parties entering into an alliance to counter royal power.
This brings us to the most recent developments: over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of protestors have demanded Gyanendra’s resignation, often sparking bloody clashes with state police forces. It seems like an open-and-shut case: corrupt monarch meets parliamentary opposition struggling to make their voices heard. But at the root of all of Nepal’s political woes lies the Maoist insurgency group.
The Rosencranz and Guildenstern of the Nepal drama are the Maoist guerilla forces who have taken 13,000 innocent lives since they began roaming the countryside in 1996. Many news stories only casually mention the Maoist forces as “insurgents” who contribute to instability in the region. The Nepalese Maoist guerillas are the only group involved in this mess which has been able to exploit all of the dissonance to its advantage and ultimate goal—that is, terror and coercion. Since King Gyanendra’s installation on the throne, the Maoists have steadily risen to the role of puppet-masters, increasing their sway over the other political actors in the country. Earlier this year, the opposition alliance formed a reluctant coalition with the Maoists, staging popular strikes and agitating for a return to democracy.
After two weeks of mass protests which sometimes turned into bloody clashes with state police forces, Gyanendra has agreed to step down as head of state, and content himself with a largely ceremonial role. The Maoists are still unsatisfied, however. While they have issued a two-day deadline for the political parties to begin drafting a new constitution, they still condemn Gyanendra’s capitulation as insincere and insufficient.
While we cannot yet be certain what direction the country will take, the prospects for democracy are very grim. The Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) initiated their “People’s War” in February 1996 with grandiose visions of carrying on the world-wide “proletarian revolution.” In a 2000 interview with Revolution newspaper, CPN’s professed goal was to overthrow the national government and “establish a new democratic republic as a step toward building a new socialist society.” Since the King’s concession, Maoists have vowed to continue the protest blockades they’ve set up over the past month, which wear on Kathmandu’s access to food and fuel.
Nepal’s crisis is a grim lesson about the power of terrorism to derail a country’s struggle toward democracy.
