Revolution!

So there I was, collecting data on reduplicated numerals in Newar, with Dipak Tuladhar’s very generous help in introducing me to Newar speakers, when I got a text from a friend of mine who has colleagues in Nepal, warning me that WhatsApp would soon stop working at midnight that night. I went to the hotel desk and said I had heard a rumor to this effect, and they said indeed, there is such a rumor. According to the government’s messaging, all of these social media companies (WhatsApp, Meta, YouTube, Discord…) had missed the deadline to “register” with the government. TikTok and Viber still worked, because supposedly these companies had registered. (Very curious what this “registration” process involved.) The hotel staff person told me he hoped it would not happen, but he feared it might. Indeed, that night, I lost access to Facebook and Instagram, and the next day I lost access to WhatsApp. I had to go to the cell phone company Ncell’s store to figure out how to get Viber working; I kept getting an error, and that was my only remaining way to communicate internationally.

By pure coincidence, it was on social media that Gen-Z had been complaining about corruption and the lavish lifestyles of the corrupt government ministers and their family members.

A few days after the social media ban went into effect, as you probably read, there was a peaceful protest against government corruption (*triggered* by the social media ban, but not specifically *about* the social media ban) by the Gen-Z movement. The police used water canons, rubber bullets, and…. REAL BULLETS against the young people protesting. There’s proof; they found the casings (I saw it on TikTok). It was initially reported that 19 young people aged 15-25 had been killed. Hundreds more were injured. Ultimately the death toll for Gen Z protesters would reach 35. Imagine their parents.

That night, the Internet Service Providers reopened access to social media without the permission of the government (bold!). I saw a TikTok that night in which a young Gen Z man passionately urged the army to stand by the citizens of Nepal. Amazingly, it seems that this call was heeded. The next day, Gen Y joined Gen Z in the streets, and they started setting fire to the lavish possessions of the corrupt government ministers, including homes and the Hilton hotel, which was bought by the son of a corrupt government minister for billions of rupees that had been stolen from the people. A curfew was put in place by the army, but it was ignored by the protesters. Nevertheless, the army did not harm any of the protesters. Personally, I was lucky to be in a non-corruption-derived hotel that had a kitchen with breakfast, and interesting people to talk to, including staff members and a brilliant Slovak artist, who told me about the revolution in his country in 1990.

Here’s a picture I took from the rooftop of my hotel during that period, with crows going crazy about all the smoke:

They were burning tires everywhere, and the smell of smoke was oppressive.

The Deubas were taken forcefully from their homes by protesters; the finance minister was seen swimming for his life in the river while things were being hurled at him. The airport closed down. Hospitals were overwhelmed. The policeman who gave the order to shoot the Gen-Z protesters with real bullets was beaten up and killed in the street. (The total death toll for non-Gen-Z people was eventually put at 5.) Members of parliament fled for their lives. We saw, felt and heard the military helicopters overhead rushing them to safety.

I asked a young woman working at the hotel how she was getting updates on the situation and she gave me the tip to follow “Routine of Nepal Banda” on Facebook. From there, I was able to stay abreast of the developments. It was interesting to see what people were commenting. A very common slogan made reference to other revolutions that had recently taken place in the world.

I was safe at the hotel, with the exception of the oppressive smoke. It was interesting learning about the situation from the young people working at the hotel. One young man working there told me about Rabi Lamichane, a jailed political leader. According to him, he was jailed even though he was exonerated by a jury just because he was mounting a credible opposition to the party leadership. An older man, on the other hand, characterized him as a criminal, and clarified that he was not actually exonerated; he just never got charged with a crime. Another man, halfway between their ages, told me that someone else took the fall for him, and that’s why he never got charged with a crime. Controversial figure.

Among the crazy things that happened that day was that they freed a bunch of prisoners, including Rabi Lamichane (“the king is back” read the caption with the image of a freed Rabi Lamichane).

But crucially, and amazingly, the prime minister resigned that day! Revolution!

So… Peace? At that point opinion seemed to splinter, with some people calling for continued fighting (many posted “Blood must be met with blood”), and people not feeling satisfied with such a quick and easy resolution after so many years of being taken advantage of.

I wonder whether the form of government in Nepal at this point was technically “anarchy”. I suppose the army had it under control, though, so it was perhaps more of a benevolent military coup. Not sure.

Unfortunately, even after the resignation, there was looting and burning of important cultural heritage sites such as Singa Darbar, a huge and very important piece of architectural heritage that actively housed important government and historical records.  Here are two notices that were put out by the army during this period.

Things like the burning of Singa Darbar did NOT represent the Gen-Z movement.

After the resignation, Routine of Nepal Banda advocated peace and restraint, and uplifted heroes who were doing community work like saving important documents from Singa Darbar and keeping things safe and peaceful. Praise was given for acts of heroism on behalf of the community like helping to clean up the mess and protecting cultural heritage sites from looters. A young Nepali man that I talked to told me that since the police station in his village had burned down, he had been helping to patrol the village and keep it safe along with a group of his neighbors. Once the police station is rebuilt, the police will be able to work in the village again. People commented “They are the real Gen-Z” about these heroes.

During this phase, there was also a lot of online discussion about what should happen next politically. Many options were on the table, including even bringing back the monarchy (there had been pro-king rallies), but mostly the discussion centered on who should be the interim prime minister. Many people commented that “Rabi is not the one.” Another popular option was a mayor, a rapper who goes by “Balen”. Dipak Tuladhar favored Kul Man Ghising, who was famous for resolving the load-shedding crisis, where people would be out of electricity for 18 hours in a row on a regular basis. He’s an ex-engineer, and he can get things done.

Eventually, via a Discord server (!), Gen-Z opinion coalesced around Sushila Karki, a female ex-judge who is viewed as having great integrity. It took a couple of days for the issue to be resolved. One man I talked to (an older Newar man) told me that the reason it took so long is that Karki wanted to ensure that the parliament would be dissolved during the interim government, “so that she could work”.

Soon after the interim prime minister was chosen, the curfews had lifted, the airport had reopened, new elections had been set for March, and Nepal announced to the tourists that it was back in business!

Sushila Karki did indeed get right to work. On her first day, she visited the injured Gen-Z protesters at the hospital. One of her first reforms was to eliminate VIP status at the airport. She also moved the government bodies responsible for evaluating government transparency and accountability out from under the Prime Minister’s control, and into an independent body of government. They also set up a hotline that you can call if you see an instance of government corruption. She appointed Kul Man Ghising as Energy Minister. As Energy Minister, Kul Man Ghising has also gotten to work.

The martyrs are also being honored and remembered.

Overall, I was amazed by the power, focus, wisdom, and restraint of the Gen-Z movement and the Nepali people in general. Maybe it’s not that surprising for a country whose main export is enlightenment.