फेब्रुअरी १ को शाही-कदमको समर्थनमा डी. सी. र न्यूयोर्क मा केही पुराना राजावादीहरु, केही नवराजावादीहरु र केही आफु राजावादी नभएको तर बहुदलिय प्रजातन्त्रबाट मोहभंग भएको भन्ने शान्तिकामीहरुले गरेको ससाना प्रदर्शनलाई उनिहरुले "हजारौंले भाग लिएको विशाल पदर्शनहरु" भनेर नेपालको सरकारी संचारबाट प्रचार गराए ।

आजसम्म पनि नेपालबाट साथीसंगीहरु सोध्ने गर्छन्, के साच्चै अमेरिकाका सबै नेपालीहरु राजाको कदमको समर्थन गर्छन ?

र यस्तो प्रश्न मलाई मात्र होईन मैले कुरा गर्न पाएका लगभग सबै अमेरिका-सहवासीहरुलाई नेपालका उनिहरुका आफन्तहरुले सोध्ने गर्दा रहेछन् ।

भनेसी प्रोपेगाण्डा कार्यमा अमेरिकाका राजावादीहरुले क्षणिक नै सही तर ठूलो उपलब्धी हासिल गरेछन् ।

प्रोपेगाण्डाको लागि सरकारी मात्र हैन गैरसरकारी माध्यम समेत प्रयोग गरे आयोजकहरुले । 'नेपाली टाईम्स' मा एकजना आयोजक महोदयले डी. सी. को प्रदर्शनलाई 'बहुसंख्यकहरुको प्रतिनिधित्व' (majority representation) भनेर दावी गरे । स्वतन्त्र माध्यमबाट गरिएका यस्ता पुटले 'राजमुकुट प्रति प्रतिबद्ध' सरकारी माध्यमहरुले गरेको प्रचारका अविश्वसनियतालाई कम गरे हुनन् ।

एनिवे, "के साच्चै अमेरिकाका सबै नेपालीहरु राजाको कदमको समर्थन गर्छन ?" भन्ने नेपालका आफन्त संगीसाथीहरुको प्रश्नको उत्तर दिंदा दिंदा हैरान हुनु भएका प्रजातन्त्रप्रेमी साथीहरु डी. सी. को नजिक हुनुहुन्छ भने यही Sunday, May 15, 2005 का दिन White House अगाडि हुने Pro-Democracy Rally मा पाल्नुहोला ।

नेपे जरुर उपस्थित हुनेछ त्यहाँ तपाईहरुसंग न्यानो अभिवादन साटासाट गर्न ।

Folks,
Get some pictures, I might be in it this time...

खुसिको कुरा सुन्न पाईयो, आफु त अलि टाढा परियो, आउन मन भै भै पनि आउन पाईएन। नत्र घोक्रो फुट्ने गरि कराम्न मन थियो। जे भे नि हाजिर चै गरेँ है मैले नि। त्यसैमा सन्तोष गर्न पर्यो, क्यारम् त नि।
अब फोटो भे नि हेर्न पाए कति मज्जा हुन्थ्यो होला !

-सरु :)

Quick pics. . .

Hey Hey Ho Ho
Time for Mao & Monarchy to Go

sorry. . could not upload. . will try in the afternoon

॥॥॥मेरो स्तुती गान॥॥॥
मेरो सरकार प्राणभन्दा प्यारा छन्,
जति नै दण्डवत् गरे नि भर्दैन मेरो मन।
बिहान उठेर एकफेर साष्टाङ्ग दण्डवत म गर्छु,
दिनभरि अनि आफ्नो भकारी पनि भर्छु॥

बल्ल आयो मेरो पालो १३ वर्षमा अनेकौं दाउ खेलेर,
मेरा मान्छेलाइ अब ठाउँमा पुर्?याउछु नयाँ नियम पेलेर।
मैले खाएँ त के भयो यो मेरो सरकारको बिर्ता त हो,
मेरा सरकारले "हार्ले" चढे भनेर कराउने तँ को??

यो देशमा नयाँ (उच्च)प्रजातन्त्र म ल्याउँछु,
मेरो बिरोध गर्ने जम्मैलाइ जेलमा म जाँक्छु।
भ्रष्टाचारी र माओबादिको नाममा बिरोधीलाई म ठोक्छु,
शंका लाग्यो भन्दै प्रबुद्धहरुलाई बाहिर जानबाट म रोक्छु॥

मानव अधिकारको नयाँ नियम मैले अब बनाएँ,
देश बिकास गर्ने खर्च जम्मै सेनामा मैले खन्याएँ।
बिदेशीले पैसा नदिए पनि छैन मलाई त चिन्ता,
कालापानी बेचेर म दङ्ग छु हातहतियार किन्दा॥

धुलिखेल र नागढुङ्गाको घेराभित्र छँदैछ शान्ति र सुव्यावस्था,
अरु ठुला शहरले नि धानेकै छ मेरो सु-शासनको प्रतिष्था।
मान्छे मरेर के भो मान्छे त जन्मेकै हो नि मर्नको लागि,
म त यहाँ बाँचेकै छु नि मेरो आत्मालाई टुकुचामा त्यागि॥

निर्माण

फोटो हेरम् कि भनेर आऽको। कवितामा पो हराएँछु।

>Some 20 years ago, I had written a poem in a police custody and recited it to 150 fellow detainees that were there. I still remember the first stanza.
जेल नेल खाइयो भनेर धाक दिए जस्तो पनि सुनियो मलाई त।

>जो खोज्छ थुन्न सत्य, त्यो खन्छ आफ्नै चिहान
हर कालो रात पछि आउँछ सुनौलो बिहान ।

किन पहिलो श्लोक मात्र नि नेपे जि?
जम्मै सुनुम् न मकरतन्त्रबादी भे नि।

Is image uploading in Sajha disabled ?

They are not going through.

Anyway, here are some pictures. . .

( - http://samudaya.org/articles/archives/2005/05/summary_rally_f.php )

For speeches:

( - http://www.freenepal.org:8080/FreeNepal )

taken from Asamudaya.org........about 450 to 500 Nepalis assembled today in Lafayette Park to support an immediate restoration of democracy, especially that of civil liberties.


taken from nepalnews.......In what has been described as the biggest rally of Nepalis so far in the US, an estimated 700 Nepalis and friends of Nepal rallied in Washington, D.C. on Sunday calling for the restoration of democracy, civil liberties, and human rights.


WHICH IS THE CORRECT # ?

Thanks Pramod Bro! U r doing well in US too.

>Nepalese rally for peace, democracy in Washington D. C.

In what has been described as the biggest rally of Nepalis so far in the US, an estimated 700 Nepalis and friends of Nepal rallied in Washington, D.C. on Sunday calling for the restoration of democracy, civil liberties, and human rights.

According to the website of International Nepal Solidarity Network (INSN), the crowd marched in front of the White House with placards and banners and called for the U.S. to continue its suspension of military aid until full democracy is restored.

>Nepalis came to the rally from across the U.S.. Pramod Aryal of Georgia drove for 12 hours to reach the rally, picking up a friend in South Carolina along the way. Girija Gautam of Nashville, Tennessee was among the many who considered the rally worth the price of a plane ticket.

I personally would attest to the numbers reported by www.samudaya.org -- there probably were about 500 people at the rally, as originally targeted byt he organizers. I am very proud of all the New Yorkers who showed remarkable enthusiasm and support for the rally -- NY contributed with 2 large buses, 3 large vans, and numerous people car pooling in their private cars. It was truly unfortunate that we had to return some people due to the lack of space in transport vehicles.

However, numbers do little to credit or discredit the real mission of the rally. Wheteher only 3 would have showed up, or one thousand overwhelmed the park in front of the White House, the true desires and aspirations of the people -- the yearning to be free -- would not have been withered and should not be underestimated. The rally, if nothing, was a huge success in terms of letting the voices of democracy be heard, and to show solidarity with all those who are struggling for our undenibale (political and social) rights and privileges.

Yes, I personally too had few problems with the rally -- no one should have expected everything to go right at every event. Some of the speeches were rather long and boring, and were laden with dubious claims by the speakers. In a truly and typical Nepali way, the program dragged on and on without much regard to the crowd's exausted enthusiasm. But these few inadequacies are the areas that should be looked into by future organizers of such events, and they do very little to call the rally a failure. For one thing, the success in the critical areas (as mentioned above) surely overwhelm few negative aspects of the rally.

There were a handful (about 4-5) of royalists at the rally too, holding pro-king banners on the side. As proponents of democracy, I hope all the participants at the rally and other believers of democracy would take tremendous pride in the fact that we welcomed them with open arms, without any sort of harrassment or rediclule. Afterall, they too are Nepalis with valid opinions, and in a democratic framework, there must be rooms to accomodate differences, healthy debates and arguments aside. As Sarahana of www.samudaya.org (a brilliant young lady with remarkable zeal for promoting political/democratic awareness among the younger generations whom, along with Zubein, another similarly enthusiattic and smart young man, I had the privilege of enteracting with for the first time at the rally) have so poignantly pointed out at her website, "One would only hope that they have appreciated and enjoyed the right to dissent and that they would continue to use?and eventually learn to love and realize the significance of?such freedom." I really could not have said it better!

I hope the struggle will continue with relentless efforts by every individual who believes in OURSLEVES in whatever way they can. The rally in Washington DC on May 15th was only a small part of the process. The struggle for democarcy and freedom is eternal and hard, and the process must continue even after we achieve victory some day. We must ensure that freedom is NEVER EVER endangered for many, many more generations to come, even after we would have ceased to need to be free.

Congratulations and best wishes to the ornanizers and the participants alike.

I too had problems with posting the pictures. The subsequent page says "problems with the site you are trying to open" when a message is attached with a picture. The message was posted fine when submitted without a picture.

Will definitely share a lot of pictures with you when the problem is corrected by the admin.

Well done to everybody involved in the rally. There is obviously a big difference between rallies organised by democracy supporters and autocracy supporters, and Sunday's rally demonstrated that difference.

Poonte ji, some websites block their photographs from being published in another webpage. Same might have happened to samudaya.org .
Ask the organisers for the photos or you can ask the samudaya people to forward their pictures in email and than post them in sajha.

Poonte bro,

first of all congratulations on the grand success of the rally.

now, let's get to the point:

You and other have repeatedly written that there were a few pro-monarchs in the rally and you all embraced them wholeheartedly with open arms. Now my question is: Did you or whoever wrote that samudaya piece show up at the pro-monarchists rally? Did you guys offer those damn-panches/mandales and deshdrohis, any chance to show their hospitality? Or you guys actually went to the monarchist rally and got verbally and/or physically abused for carrying pro-democarcy banners? If its not the case, then making this ludicrous claim " - One would only hope that they have appreciated and enjoyed the right to dissent and that they would continue to use?and eventually learn to love and realize the significance of?such freedom." - only lowers the credibility of pro-democrats because you or whoever that young writer you are referring to are assuming that just because they are monarchists, they are automatically undemocratic and closed to debates. Who knows they might be open to debates and as hopsitable as you all? So unless you have verifiable proof that those monarchists did verbally or physcailly abuse the pro-democracy people in their rally, its no use making such nonsensical compariosns and assumptions jasto lagcha malai ta.. baki ta you all know more and better.

Just my view.

The pictures were from my personal camera.

One more invaluable contribution that this rally has made to our bileaguered society that still thrives in narrow mindedness and intolerance to differences, hence the seeming success of the royalists to promote their agenda, albeit forcefully:

This rally has generated vibrant and open debates on real issues that matter to the real people. It has contributed tremendously to a trend of open arguments -- including on the King --- among the people. This, in the long run, is priceless contribution towards a viable civil society.

[I tried again to attach a picture with this message. Didn't work.]

Sajha ko server ma problem cha jasto cha, why dont you make a photo album and post all pics there. duhhh.

Looks like the people organizing the ralley the participants and the supporters of the ralley are already rejoicing and celebrating as if they have made a great socio-political change according to thier inflated political ideals.

It's interesting that they have to ralley for support in front of the White House which is currently preparing speeches regarding their undemocratic treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo where human rights ceases to hold since it's not America.

In the end what matters is that Birey the bhariya needs to be able to work and get that food on the table for his children. Let's work towards letting him able to work and earn his daily bread without the country being closed by Nepal Bandhs and chakka jaams which the political parties love as we all know it.

isolated,

Yes, one well-known pro-democracy activist was verbally abused at a pro-king rally in Washington, DC. Later, he was rediculed by the (nuanced) monarchists right here in Sajha too in the thread pertaining to that rally.

Still, the remark I quoted from an article in samudaya.org is very relevant whether or not some pro-democracy people faced harrassment at pro-king rallies or not. Let's read it again:

"One would only hope that they have appreciated and enjoyed the right to dissent and that they would continue to use -- and eventually learn to love and realize the significance of -- such freedom."

I think it makes a perfect sense to comment (in the way that Sarahana has done) on an irony of their (royalists) stance on supporting suppression of rights of thoe who oppose them while praticing those very rights themselves to make their voices heard. I don't think it matters whether pro-democracy people were harrassed at a pro-king rally or not.

:)

koon pictures? khoi kaha? yesto jhukyauna ta bhayenani bro!

"This rally has generated vibrant and open debates on real issues that matter to the real people. It has contributed tremendously to a trend of open arguments -- including on the King --- among the people. This, in the long run, is priceless contribution towards a viable civil society. "

I would be this optimistic or I'd be more cautiously optimistic. Out of the 500 people there, how many you think would go back to Nepal for good? How many would have enough confidence and skills necessary to publicize their views?

Also out of 450, how many were serious about the rally? How many just showed up for the heck of it?

If such a miniscule ( I apologize for the use of this word but there's no other way to describe it, and I am sure I can be free of terpidation in the board dominated by all-embracing democrats. Also note, I am not undermining the success of the rally) gathering of elites is going to contribute to a viable civil society in Nepal, then I am not very optimistic about Nepal's future. Democarcy has to be from below and the civil society, if we go by our political sciecne textbooks can only thrive in societies that are already doing well economically. Otherwise in a country like Nepal it will be merely reduced to the status of an elites club whose members assume the responsibility to teach the common people what to think and what not to think. And that does not in any way help in strengthening anything.

I am in now way undermining the success of the rally though. I am happy to know that nepali people are becoming good at organziing such rallies because its difficult and extremely time consuming. Its also great to know that there's esprit de corps developing among the diaspora. It certainly is a wonderful thing.

Poonte bro,

My apologies. I didn't know about a democrats being verbally abused in the rally and here in Sajha. I'll definately look at that thread you mentioned.

But again, I think when you take on a moral high plane and automatically assume others to be lacking in certain qualities- or should I say virtues?- even before you enter into a discussion , how are you going to reconcile your differences and unite to work for the country?

Just my view... hetterikka photo herna yaha chireko paper lekhna chadera...! aba euta churot fulera sutna janu paryo..

you as in general you.

(k garne you have to have all your bases covered :)