Shakun's Latest 'Kathmandu Post" Piece on the New Constitution

Getting their way

by Shakun Sherchand Leslie, Laxman Tharu, Yogendra Chaudhary

LAXMAN THARU

Against the backdrop of the “Ek Madesh, Ek Pradesh” slogan and Adivasi Janajati’s demand for “identity rights”, the 601-member jumbo Constituent Assembly came into being. The Adivasi Janajati’s advice to Ian Martin, the then UNMIN representative, to settle the peace process before holding the election fell on deaf ears.

By dint of Jana Andolan II and virtue of the Interim Constitution, Nepalis were promised the drafting of a new constitution by May 28. For Adivasi Janajatis, Madeshi, Dalits and Muslims, this was an opportune time for their national integration through affirmative action.

The untimely drafting of the constitution will go against the grains of the 24-point, 9-point and 5-point agreements signed with the Madeshi, Adivasi Janajatis, Dalits and the marginalised communities respectively. The drafters have supplemented samabesi-samanupatik (inclusive-reservation) as bonus rights but backtracked from incorporating  “agradhikar” (restorative justice) and  “purna samanupatik” (equal rights through complete proportional representation) — which clearly expresses the desire of the marginalised groups for both human rights (their original rights) as well as citizen rights (democratic rights).

State restructuring

The Balkanisation of the country into 14 federal states on a hypothetical basis has led to such strange bedfellows as the Madeshi parties and the Tharus negotiating on a common ground.

The quixotic application of rule of law in delineating territories is clearly driven by the desire of gerrymandering. Many questions remain unanswered: Whom do Khaptad and Jadan states represent? When did Khasan hastily evolve into Karnali? Why does Khaptad angle its massive body in the northwest sneaking through Burang into China? When did the Tharus and Madeshis invite Narayani, a third entity, to take a positional command with Bihar? What rule of law justifies the mincing of Tharuhat into Awadh-Lumbini-Tharuhat while Western Tarai is hacked into Mithila-Bhojpur-Koch-Madesh? Why does Narayani spread its distorted tentacles into Newa, Tamsaling, Tamuwan, Magarat, Tharuhat and Mithila? Why are Tamangs in Dhading, Sindhuli, Kavre and Nuwakot harshly split from their communities and forced into Narayani and Sunkosi? 

The state restructuring has opened up strategic gateways to unmentioned Brahmin/ Chhetri territories for economic purposes and made it easy for them to divide and rule by gerrymandering in future elections. Deconstructing the identity reality to trigger conflicts in terms of language, religious, and cultural rights has thus confused assimilation policies.

A donut constitution

If state sovereignty and authority is vested in Nepali citizens (Interim Constitution, Article-2) and all Nepalis collectively own the state, then the state cannot continue to be the blueprint of one gene pool as is evident through the genetic engineering of 240 years of internal history, although the nation itself has characteristics of a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural state (Interim Constitution — Article-3).

Ethnic federalism in Nepal exercises identity, culture, religion and secured space against the “intellectual” manufactured nationalism of the state. Although Nepal has overlapping identities, the marginalised groups/cultures want past errors to be corrected.  The biggest constitutional challenge of Nepal is building cohesiveness through trust-building mechanisms and equality as the basis of the law. There is a lack of political will in accommodating the minorities. Party alliances and personal gains override all concerns for drafting a peoples’ constitution.

The capacity for variety is the strength of federalism. Promotion of mono-caste rule is detrimental to non-homogeneous aspirations of the multi-culturally diverse groups. The diverse groups see their identity as incompatible with the national identity, promoted by a fledgling democracy and nurtured by immature, political bickering.

The CA is heading into a tailspin as its members are mobilizing communities for future movements on one hand; and on the other, the ethnic demands for redemption have not abated. No constitution gains legality without the sanction of citizens. The one-sided sermons of the political parties will keep the progressive document from empowering and fulfilling peoples’ aspirations for rights, liberties and opportunities.

The constitution drafters would expend energy wisely in taking the aspirations of the marginalised groups as the key concern in bridging social and economic disparities. As constitutional watchdogs for social justice, they are determined to follow the constitutional process. Nepal is partner to the ratification act of ILO Convention Article 6 and Declaration’s Article 18. In 1979, Nepal ratified the elimination of racism and discrimination (CERD)-1969), so Nepal is obligated to practice the ethics of non-discrimination at every level.

The dialogue for social inclusion will read fictitious if the demands of the marginalised groups are not recognised as justifiable, natural demands of a social organism. The CA is not a magic bullet for social redresses. The major political parties are focusing too much energy on the political process rather than on the rule of law. Their brute force is an expression of the unchecked liberty of dominant forces, driving the marginalised groups to take flight.

Spring of 2010 is going to herald discontent, with the most odd but necessary alliances joining forces while the CA will be filibustering to delay issues important in the drafting of the constitution before it is approved by Nepali citizens. The state restructuring must not prove to be yet another accident of history, but an act of territorial integrity. Right now, the state restructuring is immersed in too much history juxtaposed against too little geography. 

Email Xchange a/ Friend on the Nature of Man & THE

the THE or EHT may be enough...  for me, frail and all-too-human, as i be, will linger on the cusp of full embrace to keep an eye on the janus nature of the world around me before finally and fully embracing the THE when it's time to fall deeply, fully, eternally into the oTHEr.  

fully and sans regret!

On Mar 22, 2010, at 9:12 PM, S. wrote:

it IS enough...IF we could live  forever...the shadow of death makes it just miss...so only God, when we can connect to the THE (that's my new name for divinity) through the gate of our longing and our joy..and le femme....the life giving MORE of attraction, love, fantasy, as well as family, hearth the spinehard generational empassing.  

On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 5:21 PM, Keith Leslie wrote:

true.  it's not hubris, but that compassion that comes w/ the human incarnation, as difficult as it is to believe some days.  still, we are blended race, full of joy, love and self-deceit.  no easy answers to the good questions.  

i see the true souls struggling while the easy riders slide through life.  friends who give so much and are given so little, except the love they deserve.  while the clever glide by in their conceit.  yet, yet, yet... we see such in all countries and cities.  

it's an old story, no?  bibilical in resonance and repititon.  but, there are those dickensian souls for whom g-d keeps the world alive and sensitive to the turmoil and torments of existence.  the g-d of little things, isn't she?  

or obama fulfilling his temporary promise w/ a few, modest few votes to reform healthcare for 330 million americans.  

or matisyahu singing his paens to the beauty in the world!  (ezi downloaded a few hundred songs for me before he returned to the usofa...).   "one day, stop with the violence, sing a song of freedom land!  one day.  one day.  one day.  all my life i've been waiting for, praying for, for the people..."  

it's a good fight, brother s..  a fight worth living for.  love and the battle for beauty and compassion.  with a few good books and some enchanting movies, it's almost enough...   

On Mar 22, 2010, at 8:48 PM, S. wrote:

thanks man...I needed that nourishing side of you, otherwise I would be sad thinking you thinking me as on the side of hubris or worse. but what can you do? you have to try...right?

 

On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 5:06 PM, Keith Leslie wrote:

true, friend, it's a struggle to get folks to rise above their doubts and cynicism, altho their hearts still tell them there is good to be done and i'm sure you enjoy the struggle for good.  

i had many such years at save the children and loved it!  writing letters annually to our benefactors and cajoling usaid and individuals about the good deeds that we were doing.  even now, i get some latent satisfaction from those years.  the individuals we invested in among the dalit, tamang and tharu communities are now running their own NGOs or working for bilaterals or within UNDP.  these are opportunities were beyond their reach a decade or two ago.  

it's a good feeling that lingers years after the hard work, plus the satisfaction of others' appreciation in nepal for the years passed.  you'll enjoy the same here as time goes by.  the investment is well-set and now it's oiling the equipment and building the organization.  

enjoy every moment, as it, like so much, passes all too quickly.  then we can stroll up here on the roof and enjoy reflecting on the world below.  finis operis.   your friend, over here, keith

Josh's Reflection on the "City of G-d" by St. Augustine

Augustine writes of “two cities” in the “City of God.” Discuss the two cities, what motivates and underlies them, to what ends they are oriented, and the relationship between the two. Can a person truly be simultaneously a citizen of both cities, or does Augustine force one to choose between them?

Ascension?

The two cities are motivated by love; however the love that allows one to ascend to the City of G-d is the antithesis of what motivates a human being in the earthly city as:

The two cities, therefore, were created by two loves: the earthly city

by love of oneself, even to the point of contempt for G-d; the heavenly

  city by the love of G-d, even to the point of contempt of oneself

(Political Writings, Pg. 108)

 The City of G-d is the love of everything, a selfless, unconditional love. Conditions cannot be made in order to create this love as conditional love involves not accepting all the features that make the person, and since we are all made in the image of G-d, we are denying G-d by not tolerating all the imperfections of the person. To love G-d is to love everything in the world, and by loving everything one understands the beauty of everything even “to the point of contempt of oneself”. That is the state where one hates their own persona for being imperfect in comparison to the ‘true’ beauty or perfection that is contained in the world.

The earthly city pales in comparison with the City of G-d as it is feeds upon the carnal desires of the individual. To only have “love of oneself” is to disregard the beauty of other people because one only sees the importance of themselves and everything else, in comparison, seems vapid. Furthermore, “contempt of G-d” in the earthly city is placing a higher precedence for one owns life. This disregards the value of everything in the world because G-d did not only create the individual, but everything in the world equally. If one only sees the brilliance of oneself and does not accept the beauty of the world then that person will see himself as faultless in the world, “it is dominated by pride, exalted in themselves in their own wisdom” (Political Writings, Pg.109).

To reach the City of G-d one must become a G-d, and as we are created in his image, we all have the potential to become G-ds, “a human being who lives according to G-d and not according to man should be a lover of good and, consequently, a hater of evil” (Political Writings, Pg. 97). However, reaching the City of G-d involves doing what is considered ‘good’ in the world, which Augustine never clearly states, but he recognizes it involves being a humble person as “humility is especially recommended in the City of G-d as it journeys in this world” (Political Writings, 101).

Without being a humble person, one only practices self-love because being humble is to understand that one cannot possibly be the best. One cannot possibly know the abilities of another or all the human beings that exist on our mortal plane, therefore, being humble involve understanding how there are different truths, making it impossible to be right. It is as Plato describes in his allegory of the caves in regard to pride. The people bonded in the cave were given prizes for guessing the shadows correctly; however, the forms were still shadows, not the reality or truth. Therefore, the people in the caves were proud based on their perception of reality, a reality that, when emancipated from the caves, was in fact a shadow of the truth. 

Physical beauty motivates the earthly city; however, even though it is created by G-d, beauty does not last forever as it is only a corporeal feeling that feeds one’s temptations and desires. “The beauty of the body, then, was indeed made by G-d, but it is a temporal, carnal, and lower good” (Political Writings, pg. 114).  The desire and sole appreciation of beauty will never cause one to live in the City of G-d because beauty is ephemeral, whereas, the spiritual beauty one finds in the City of G-d is something that is everlasting and permanent, not susceptible to the changes of time. Moreover, if one only appreciates someone’s physical beauty, then that is practicing self-love as it feeds ones temporal desires. Without being able to see that everyone is beautiful, in spirit and soul, one does not believe everyone to be equal, and in the city of G-d, everyone is equal independent of the differences in their body.

Aristotle states that “every beginning is directed to some end of its kind” (Political Writings, 156). This illustrates how our life, and human life, is directed towards either a state of destruction, as Aristotle states that the destruction of the earthly city is inevitable, or a state of complete equality and understanding through the ascension to the City of G-d. “Its princes and the nations that it subjugates is dominated by the lust to dominate; in the second, all mutually serve on another in charity” (Political Writings, pg.109).  In the City of G-d, everyone lives to help each other because of their selfless love. No one lives for themselves or is in a state of “love of oneself” as they want every to help the City for the benefit of public good. This symbolizes that everyone in the city of G-d is equal because a desire to dominate comes from pride, and only in the earthly city does pride exist.

In the earthly city, domination of a fellow human being is acceptable, allowing for a human being to treat the other person unequally. Furthermore, to dominate a fellow human being means that one sees himself as better than the fellow individual, and because he sees himself as a better individual, the “princes and nations” justifies their domination as being for the good of mankind. However, if everyone viewed each other as equals, as in the City of G-d, then the world would not require domination by anyone as no person or state would feel superior to their fellow man.

Augustine recognizes that there must be finality in relation to good and evil in the world as an ascension to the City of G-d requires an understanding of the world in which evil ceases to exist.

The final good not that through which good is destroyed, and so ceases to exist,

  but that through which it is perfected, and so exists fully; and we call the “final

  evil” not that through which evil ceases to be, but that through which it produces

  its greatest harm (Political Writings, Pg. 141)

The “final good”, the ascension to the City of G-d, is where the understanding of good is incontrovertible. Once we understand the “final good”, we as human beings will become emancipated from the chains of doubt and fear that transpire because of the carnal temptations offered by evil that obscure one’s belief in “good”. Moreover, if one’s actions are based upon an unconditional good, then, it is also unconditional love as one only desires to do the action of “good” for the sake of “serving on another in charity”. The “final evil”, or a complete degradation towards the earthly city, involves the world ceasing to exist as it will be “condemned to final punishment, it will cease to be a city” (Political Writings, Pg. 112).

             The two cities are intertwined, and in this life time, in our mortal plain, we can never truly reach the heavenly city; however if we live by ‘faith’ in its existence and a desire to try and achieve its morals then it will bring us peace until death.

         The heavenly city, however, or rather the part of it which journeys in this

  mortal life and lives by faith, necessarily uses this peace, too, until the

very mortality which makes such a peace necessary might pass away

(Political Writings, Pg. 156)

The City of G-d is not in place in our world; it is a state of mind where we accept the ethical principles that are taught by G-d. Understanding that we as human beings were created by G-d in his image, and, therefore, when we live our life in the mortal plain, we must adhere to the ‘higher’ principles of being humble and have a desire to do “good”. Living by these principles will allow the heavenly city to become alive in the mind and soul of an individual.  Rising to the City of G-d is only possible in our minds and soul on our earthly plain.

            The two cities are affiliated with each other because of G-d’s gift to humans, free choice. We, as human beings, have the ability to be good or allow evil to exist within our bodies and mind. “He did not take this power of free choice from them, but judged it to be better and more efficacious to bring good out of evil than to refuse to allow evils to exist" (Political Writings, Pg. 184). G-d could have created the world void of evil, but the real test that human beings have to go through is to remove our soul of carnal desires, evil, that the earthly city offers. Instead, we must take our freedom of choice to choose between good and evil. We must see the City of G-d within our world and try to bring it forth from the evils that human beings are susceptible to desire.

            The two cities amalgamate in our world to create human life, the struggle between what one considers good and the temptations that are offered by evil. Moreover, the realization of our “free choice” will emancipate us from the fears and insecurities that is apparent in our world because it is a test of our real character. Whether we are meant to be evil and live temporarily, until its or our destruction, in the earthly city or fight our carnal desires to mentally live in the City of G-d. However, living only to please ones lascivious desires is potentially a lonely life because it will cause people not to desire being around you as your concern will only be about “self-love” and increasing one’s pride, unconcerned about the extraneous world.

            While few will ever truly achieve a City of G-d state of mind, everyone has to live in the earthly city.   Therefore, a person can simultaneously be citizens of both cities as the earthly city is the world that surrounds us, and living, spiritually, in the City of G-d is to be void of carnal desires and thoughts.  On earth, we can still practice the basic teachings, that Augustine states, of G-d: humility, selfless love, and a desire to better one’s community. We aspire to the City of G-d while living on the earthly plain. 

Joshua S. Leslie

Shakun's 'The Way Forward' Op-Ed in The Kathmandu Post

The Way Forward | Op-Ed | :: The Kathmandu Post ::

Laxman Tharu, Buddha Tsering Moktan and Shakun Sherchand Leslie

LAXMAN THARU,BUDDHA TSERING MOKTAN,SHAKUN SHERCHAND LESLIE

KATHMANDU, FEB 20 -

Adivasi Janajatis, Dalits, Madhesis, Muslims, Khasas and Brahmins are all Nepalis; and yet, why do we feel pointedly obliged to redefine ourselves more than ever before? Is it because Nepali nationalism remains rigid in content and vague in inspiration?

First of all, it has to be clear that the Tharus, Tamangs, Thakalis, Limbus, Newars, Rais and Magars are comfortable in defining themselves as Adivasi Janajatis for a reason. Adivasi connotes the indigenous peoples of Nepal while Janajati refers to its tribal/ethnic heritage. Autochthonous (derived from Greek), meaning “sprung from the earth”, Adivasi Janajatis were settlers rather than conquistadores. The Neolithic tools found in Nepal hint of our presence here 9,000 years ago. We were taught verbatim that our ancestors had prepared a survival kit to connect with the land, air, trees, water and mysticism. In their quest for survival and in order to give meaning to their existence, they adopted animistic, shamanistic and Buddhist practices.

When the interlopers came, instead of embracing harmony, they brought a foreign religion and forcibly replaced ancestor worship by idol worship. They trespassed upon Adivasi land by manipulation and conquest. Therefore, the indigenous ethnic people can be defined as “a politically underprivileged group, who share a similar ethnic identity different to the nation in power, and who have been an ethnic entity in the locality before the present ruling nation took over power”.

Adivasi Janajatis did not emerge from caste Hinduism, and discrimination is incompatible with the practice of ahimsa (non-violence) and karuna (compassion). Brahmins in Nepal have to understand the marginalised, discriminated and exploited are fighting not those who are Brahmins by birth, but the deplorable and excessive practice of the laws of Manu.

What went wrong?

Before the concept of nation state emerged, the diversity of human culture in Nepal was as varied as the biodiversity of the flora and fauna, and peace depended on the symbiotic relationship based on their needs. However, Hinduism undid the various ethnic principalities. Hindu Brahminbad was introduced during the Lichchhavi period and established in 1437 B.S. by Jayasthiti Malla when he invited five Brahmins from South India to introduce casteism and discrimination according to the Manava-Dharmashastra (Laws of Manu).

What is unnerving for Adivasi Janajatis is their systematic elimination through application of “law of all the social classes”, whereby a majority of Nepalis are socially and politically disenfranchised. In 1870, the Ranas tried to suppress the indigenous people’s languages and in the process, many were executed or chased from the country.

As Adivasi Thakalis, we realised that our father’s inheritance was a shift in history. Their forefathers had traded language, culture and identity for the license to trade in salt; for salt was the subsistence of their tribe, and a man who did not know how to fulfill the needs of his tribe could not be called a Thakali, literally the oldest and the wisest.

The Tharus can trace their lineage back to Shakyamuni Buddha, Ashoka and the Koli heritage. But the Tharus — an indigenous, self-sufficient group — were debased to Kamaiyas, the poor share croppers, through an enforced social hierarchy. The Ranas had given up large parts of the Tarai and present day Sikkim in exchange for Nepali autonomy. The Ranas followed internal colonisation after assisting the British in the Indian rebellion of 1857 and both world wars.

The Tharus had lost their land through the manipulation of land rights tied up with what was considered development aid. In 1952, the joint collaboration of the US Operation Mission and WHO helped eradicate malaria from the Rapti Valley, benefiting the mid-hill Brahmins and Chhetris to exclude the Tharus from their own territory, as earlier they were the only inhabitants resistant to malaria. The Tarai progressed to becoming the rice bowl of Nepal, upgrading the land value. By the mid-1960s, two million people had migrated to the Tarai. By 1971, the proportion of cultivated land in the Tarai was 41 percent compared to 9 percent in the hills and 2 percent in the mountains. They gradually watched their land slip away from their hands — 75 percent of the land being transferred to Brahmin zamindars, 10 percent to Chhetris and 15 percent to Janajati and Tharu landlords.

Between the Muluki Ain (Civil Code) of 1854 to Bhumisudhar (Land Reform Act) of 1963, the laws and directives sidetracked the Adivasi Janajatis through a land grabbing mechanism and huge tracts of land were passed as state gifts to priests, advisors and administrators. This displaced and shrunk the livelihood of the Tharus as they turned into Kamaiyas (serfs). Kippat (community) land was taken from the Tamangs and Limbus, and guthi (religious community) land from the Newars. Ownership of land by Adivasi Janajatis dropped from approximately 100 percent to 60 percent during this period.

The declaration of Nepal as a Hindu state diminished the cultural practices of the Adivasi Janajatis. Dashain (a Hindu festival) was declared a national holiday. Citizenship papers were processed with Hinduised names for land ownership. Adivasi Janajatis, who were mostly Buddhist practitioners, were forced into caste categories. Eating beef was made sacrilegious, and violators were imprisoned. Even now, there are 200 discriminatory laws.

Sanskritised Nepali was the predominant official language. The Nepali vernacular was used as the medium of education and elimination of other dialects, pushed out by humiliating their speakers. Systematic exclusion of Adivasi Janajatis from the administration, civil service, media, high posts in the military and political parties was initiated and soon became the standard. The Adivasi Janajatis, with their limited skills in spoken/written Nepali, were at a huge disadvantage.

Civil distress

Adivasi Janajatis as Nepalis are trying to reclaim their lost dignity through agradhikar (restorative justice).

“Ek Madhes, Ek Pradesh”, which is basically a slogan against Brahmin hegemony, is not just an ideology of some political party, but a demand for identity. Meanwhile, the CA has become a 24-party arena for social inclusion debates. The country is at high risk of political and social polarisation. The ham-fisted state restructuring invites another level of controversy and especially puts the Tharus and the Madhesi on alert. Recently, the Khasa people congregated to declare their desire to declared Adivasi Janajatis.

To ignore social inclusion through proportionate representation in federal Nepal will be akin to taking the country from the hands of authoritarian feudalists and putting it into the hands of repressive totalitarians. Hence, our common cause has to be ‘drafting equality, executing equality and administering equality’ and thereby bringing Nepali nationalism to a full circle.

Proust on Memories, Place & Time: The Last Lovely, Fleeting Line of Swann's Way

"They were only a thin slice, held between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas, as the years."

Marcel Proust

'Swann's Way'

Recherche du Temps Perdu

Remembrance of Time Lost

The Last Line of Joyce's 'The Dead'

"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

James Joyce

'The Dead'

Dubliners (1914)

Leah's February USA Shopping List

Dear Daddy,

I hope you are having a good time with Grammy. Mommy and I am having fun too. OK! you are coming on the 25th. Could you please get me these things?

1- flip flops in brown or black or white isze 23 or 23cm long from toe point to heel point.

2- marshmellows

3- cream cheeese for my bagles

4- bead making box

5 Hanna Montana secret rock star headset $ 14 ( go to website amazon.com)

6- skate board and knees pads

TQS!

Luv ya dad, Leah