Saturday, April 6, 2013
Long road ahead: Occupy Baluwatar's 100 days
The following article was published in today's (April 6, 2013) Republica with the title "Long road ahead".
Today, the Occupy Baluwatar movement celebrates its 100 days. It began with the twin agendas of ending gender-based discrimination and all forms of gender-based violence. Although some news media had reported that the movement would end on January 14, government inaction meant that the movement continued, and will celebrate a milestone on April 6.
There are two schools of thought on Occupy Baluwatar’s demand of justice for women. The first comes from organizers of the movement who feel that justice for women has been very slow to come by. Their movement is hinged on the demand that punishments be meted out quickly and swiftly to perpetrators of gender violence and discrimination. The second comes from outside observers, especially bureaucrats and politicians, who believe that laws are already in place to punish the offenders. They believe that everyone should just calm down, register cases and—in due course of time—the judicial system will punish the perpetrators.
These two arguments are similar to those that classical and Keynesian economists routinely engage in. Classical economists argue that in the long run a market takes care of itself. Therefore, government intervention is unnecessary and undesirable for proper functioning of markets. Keynesian economists, to the contrary, argue that markets take a long time to correct themselves if left to their own devices. Sometimes, the public has to suffer eternally for the market to correct itself. Therefore, to minimize public suffering, government has to intervene and hasten the market correction process.
The second school of thought on Occupy Baluwatar movement, like the Classical economists, is not wrong in itself—that the state judiciary will sooner or later provide justice. But justice in Nepal for gender violence victims has been noted for its absence. What Occupy Baluwatar people are demanding is the Keynesian equivalent of involvement of government in expediting the course of recourse. However, if the tepid response from state level mechanisms and government are any gauge, the Occupy movement’s demands are falling on deaf ears.
Delay in justice is not even the main problem for gender violence victims. If cases were registered duly, and were proceeding smoothly, duration of justice would not be a problem in itself. The main problem we have in Nepal is that there has been no concentrated effort from our government to address gender violence, to support victims, help in registering cases, provide protection and other benefits to victims necessary to fight cases against perpetrators, and ensure that wheel of justice keeps moving.
Violence against Nepali women will continue because of state-sponsored impunity. If our government truly feels guilty for the frequency with which Nepali women are being raped or assaulted, announcing an immediate monetary compensation is not the way to show that remorse.
Even the party and leadership that encouraged women to carry guns and fight alongside men in the name of equal rights and responsibilities—to organize a revolution for a “New Nepal”—has abandoned them. Majority male Maoist leadership considered women its equal as long as it needed to show a force in numbers in its army. Women were equal to men as long as it served their purpose. Now that the revolution has ended, women’s issues and concerns are no longer their priority because having women in numbers, rank and file no longer serve their purpose. The Maoist Party today looks like a typical male-dominated mainstream party.
The Maoist party’s failure to keep promises that it made to minority groups during the decade-long insurgency has resulted in many minorities coming together to form the Janajati Party. Some female leaders have mentioned that only a Woman Party will be able to serve women’s interests. However, these “Woman Party” campaigners have been missing from the frontlines of Occupy Baluwatar movement. They’re not even visible in the periphery of the movement. To assume that simply opening a Woman Party ensures votes from women is an assault on the intelligence of Nepali women. They aren’t stupid to not see through the charade. Trust and loyalty are two important things that are completely missing in today’s political discourse.
The one consistent political regurgitation in Nepal is “we will make sure policies and laws are put in place”. Our leadership, present and past, has always been proactive in signing any new international treaty, law and agreement. We already have national laws that combat gender violence and promote equal rights. However, implementation of those laws is lacking. Our police officers send rape cases for mediation in the community. There is a clear gap between law on paper and its implementation on the ground.
Unless our political and bureaucratic system is sincere about enforcing existing laws and rights that protect Nepali women in private and public space, the Occupy Baluwatar movement will have to continue. However, the aim of the movement should not be to draft more laws but to force our government to put in practice the laws in existence. Practice of what is on paper will then create fear of punishment in the mindsets of would-be offenders. Friedrich Nietzsche once said that fear is the mother of all morality. Until and unless our society starts fearing the consequence of its discriminatory and criminal actions against women, it will remain amoral.
Long Road Ahead
by: Mukesh Khanal
Today, the Occupy Baluwatar movement celebrates its 100 days. It began with the twin agendas of ending gender-based discrimination and all forms of gender-based violence. Although some news media had reported that the movement would end on January 14, government inaction meant that the movement continued, and will celebrate a milestone on April 6.
There are two schools of thought on Occupy Baluwatar’s demand of justice for women. The first comes from organizers of the movement who feel that justice for women has been very slow to come by. Their movement is hinged on the demand that punishments be meted out quickly and swiftly to perpetrators of gender violence and discrimination. The second comes from outside observers, especially bureaucrats and politicians, who believe that laws are already in place to punish the offenders. They believe that everyone should just calm down, register cases and—in due course of time—the judicial system will punish the perpetrators.
These two arguments are similar to those that classical and Keynesian economists routinely engage in. Classical economists argue that in the long run a market takes care of itself. Therefore, government intervention is unnecessary and undesirable for proper functioning of markets. Keynesian economists, to the contrary, argue that markets take a long time to correct themselves if left to their own devices. Sometimes, the public has to suffer eternally for the market to correct itself. Therefore, to minimize public suffering, government has to intervene and hasten the market correction process.
The second school of thought on Occupy Baluwatar movement, like the Classical economists, is not wrong in itself—that the state judiciary will sooner or later provide justice. But justice in Nepal for gender violence victims has been noted for its absence. What Occupy Baluwatar people are demanding is the Keynesian equivalent of involvement of government in expediting the course of recourse. However, if the tepid response from state level mechanisms and government are any gauge, the Occupy movement’s demands are falling on deaf ears.
Delay in justice is not even the main problem for gender violence victims. If cases were registered duly, and were proceeding smoothly, duration of justice would not be a problem in itself. The main problem we have in Nepal is that there has been no concentrated effort from our government to address gender violence, to support victims, help in registering cases, provide protection and other benefits to victims necessary to fight cases against perpetrators, and ensure that wheel of justice keeps moving.
Violence against Nepali women will continue because of state-sponsored impunity. If our government truly feels guilty for the frequency with which Nepali women are being raped or assaulted, announcing an immediate monetary compensation is not the way to show that remorse.
Even the party and leadership that encouraged women to carry guns and fight alongside men in the name of equal rights and responsibilities—to organize a revolution for a “New Nepal”—has abandoned them. Majority male Maoist leadership considered women its equal as long as it needed to show a force in numbers in its army. Women were equal to men as long as it served their purpose. Now that the revolution has ended, women’s issues and concerns are no longer their priority because having women in numbers, rank and file no longer serve their purpose. The Maoist Party today looks like a typical male-dominated mainstream party.
The Maoist party’s failure to keep promises that it made to minority groups during the decade-long insurgency has resulted in many minorities coming together to form the Janajati Party. Some female leaders have mentioned that only a Woman Party will be able to serve women’s interests. However, these “Woman Party” campaigners have been missing from the frontlines of Occupy Baluwatar movement. They’re not even visible in the periphery of the movement. To assume that simply opening a Woman Party ensures votes from women is an assault on the intelligence of Nepali women. They aren’t stupid to not see through the charade. Trust and loyalty are two important things that are completely missing in today’s political discourse.
The one consistent political regurgitation in Nepal is “we will make sure policies and laws are put in place”. Our leadership, present and past, has always been proactive in signing any new international treaty, law and agreement. We already have national laws that combat gender violence and promote equal rights. However, implementation of those laws is lacking. Our police officers send rape cases for mediation in the community. There is a clear gap between law on paper and its implementation on the ground.
Unless our political and bureaucratic system is sincere about enforcing existing laws and rights that protect Nepali women in private and public space, the Occupy Baluwatar movement will have to continue. However, the aim of the movement should not be to draft more laws but to force our government to put in practice the laws in existence. Practice of what is on paper will then create fear of punishment in the mindsets of would-be offenders. Friedrich Nietzsche once said that fear is the mother of all morality. Until and unless our society starts fearing the consequence of its discriminatory and criminal actions against women, it will remain amoral.
Labels: #occupy, GBV, maoists, nepal, Occupy Baluwatar
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