Mainstream WeeklyNepal has been in the news. Gen Z agitators, who began agitations following a ban on several social media platforms, actually had roots in public anger at corruption and display of wealth by government figures and their families, and complaints about mismanagement of public funds. This is hardly the full story, which needs to be discussed at length. What is significant however, is that these agitations come after a protracted period of government by various parties and Prime Ministers claiming to be communist.
The Gen Z agitations seem concentrated in large cities. In rural areas the various Communist Parties, the Nepali Congress, and in some parts of Southern Nepal certain Madhesi parties have considerable influence.
Meanwhile, a joint statement has been issued by the Embassies of Australia, Finland, France, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, expressing sadness at the loss of life, and affirming the right to protest peacefully. The UK and the USA, the principal backers of the Gaza genocide, defending democratic rights! No doubt, if a leftwing government of any stripe is discredited, they will be happy. However, no knee-jerk reaction, simply identifying this as an imperialist plot, will be adequate.
Stages in the Development of Nepal Politics:
In 1990, there was a mass movement (Jan Andolan) in which the bourgeois Nepali Congress and the United Left Front, a coalition of left parties, collaborated. The army shot people in Patan in April. This was followed by a mass demonstration of some 200,000 people who marched opposing the monarchy in the capital city Kathmandu. Eventually, a Constitutional Monarchy (with ample powers remaining with the King) was set up. But there was a clear disconnect between the elite political leaders and the masses of people. Some of the Communist fractions came together to form the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist). Between 1990 and 2006, the elected government was dominated by the Nepal Congress, with the CPN(UML) coming in once, for less than a year.
Meanwhile, in 2001, King Birendra and most of his family were killed in the royal palace by his son, who also died in self-inflicted violence. Birendra