An Opaque Madhesh Think Tank

If the Madhesi Think Tank is not going to make its archives public, it is of little personal interest to me. Mohi magne dhungro lukaune?

http://groups.google.com/group/madhesh-think-tank

(1)

ICG: Nepal's Faltering Peace Process
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2009/02/icg-nepals-faltering-peace-process.html

(2)

Dr. Binod has brought forth a valid point. He disagrees with my
suggestion that the archives of this google group must be public. I
think this small issue gives us an opportunity to hold a civil, open,
transparent debate on the question. People should fully express their
opinions.

I am glad we finally have a Global Madhesi Organization in Ram Shah's
leadership. But it is for the 67 members of this group to discuss and
decide, if necessary by vote, as to whether or not we should make the
archives public.

Here is my rationale.

(1) This is not a private club, this is not a family group. This is
the online watering hole for the leading Madhesis from all over the
world. By definition this group and its discussions belong to the 12
million Madhesis on the planet. These message threads are not private
emails. We can not take this group to the 12 million, but we should
take it to as many as possible, especially when it is so easy to do,
and free.

(2) I am opposed to Madhesis talking Madhesi rights with Madhesis but
expressing internalized prejudice and mental slavery and subservience
when among Pahadis. What are you afraid of?

(3) Making the archives public will get us more Madhesi readers, and
we will also get more requests from Madhesis who wish to join the
group and contribute to the discussions. We do want the widest
possible readership.

(4) I also want interested Pahadis to read these discussions. Let them
get informed of our raw feelings and opinions. Let's enlighten them as
to our issues.

(5) Just like there are very few Madhesis in the Nepal Army, in the
Nepal Police, in the state bureaucracy in Nepal, there are very few
Madhesis in the Nepali diaspora, and for the same reasons. This
particular google group so far has emerged as the best gathering place
for those few. A wider readership will enhance the quality of
discussions here.

(6) Too much is at stake as work gets done on the constitution. We
stand next to a loud, vocal, prejudiced Pahadi majority in the
diaspora. We have to fight back with words and ideas. This google
group could play a key role in securing the One Terai, One Pradesh.

(7) Let's go mass based.

(3)

Access: Only members can view group content

I just found out that this tank has gone opaque again. Why?

If there are members of this think tank that are opposed to keeping
the content of the discussions here public, they should participate in
a discussion on the topic and convince the rest of us as to their
rationale. This super elitism if offensive. 50 leading Madhesis in the
world get together online but wish to discuss things in a way that
denies access to other Madhesis who might manage to come online. That
is beyond weird.

The decision making process is flawed. Lobbying through private phone
calls! People should have open discussions.

(4)

(1)

Because this think tank's archives are now in public, I have linked to
it from my Nepal blog. See top right:
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com Now this think tank performs the
same function for my Nepal blog that Twitter does for my Tech N Biz
blog: http://technbiz.blogspot.com

(2)

Amit Shah: ".....included the word Women, Adibashi/Janjati but
intentionally excluded the word *MADHESHI* ignoring the fact of
madheshi movement and condition in Nepal as well as in abroad."

This is an important observation. If there had been no anti-Madhesi
prejudice in Nepal there would have been 10,000 Madhesis in New York
today. The first 10,000 Pahadis I am going to meet in NYC, I am going
to think they took seats that belonged to Madhesis. Since the Nepali
diaspora is mostly a Pahadi diaspora, we can expect a major sentiment
against the sound One Terai, One Pradesh idea. We have to counter
that. This think tank could play a key role.

(3)

Tara. I learned a few weeks back that he is now NAC president.
Congrats. This looks good on NYC Nepalis. One third of the Nepalis in
the US are in NYC. Good to see the leadership has finally shifted to
the city. Now I learn he is also chair of the NRNA-NCC America. I am
learning for the first time that such a coordination council has
finally materialized in the US as well. That is great news. It is
possible at some time some Nepali in the US will lead the global NRN
movement, but for that to happen it had been important for the Nepalis
in America to get integrated with the global NRN first. For the
longest time, the NRN organization faced resistance in America because
a Madhesi was at the top.

I have tussled with Tara at times in the past on three issues - (a)
the need for an umbrella organization for the 30 plus Nepali
organizations in New York Metro, or alternately getting them all to
become members of NAC itself, (b) democracy, (c) transparency - that
some have tried to portray as some kind of a personality clash,
because there is more drama in that suggestion.
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2007/08/democracy-transparency-and-nepali.html

I still would like to emphasize the importance of democracy and
transparency for the Nepalis to earn their due political rights in NYC
and at the national level. This is about immigrant rights. Too much of
the Nepali diaspora bonding is tied to the happenings in Nepal and too
little to the rights of the Nepalis in their host countries.

What I am getting at is Nepalis should have the right to vote in New
York city elections based on residency, because you pay utility bills.
The Irish had that in Boston 150 years ago. You don't have to be a
citizen, you don't have to have a green card.

In terms of basic rights in host countries, it is much worse for the
Nepalis in the gulf states, in Malaysia, other places.

When you emphasize democracy and transparency, you also make it
possible for the diaspora organizations to go mass based. Right now
there is too much living room talk, cliquish, self-defeating.

(4)

A few weeks back Jay Mandal forwarded me this email about the
constitution. I told him I had a direct channel with Madhav Nepal on
the constitution work. That is the beauty of having a global digital
democracy organization: http://hamnep.googlepages.com and having been the only full timer in the diaspora behind the three revolutions in
Nepal: April 2006, January-February 2007, February 2008.
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com

I have been one of the earliest to start work on a constitution. What
I have proposed would be the shortest, most progressive constitution
of any country.
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2007/11/proposed-constitution.html

(5)

https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1235248689

(6)

https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1227962213 Steve Case AOL Founder
https://twitter.com/paramendra/status/1227950181 Padmasree CTO of Cisco
Joe Trippi, Dean 2004 Campaign Manager
http://twitter.com/JoeTrippi/statuses/1221127774
http://twitter.com/paramendra/statuses/1221187540
Huffington Post, top political blog in America
http://twitter.com/huffpost/statuses/1221127779

(7)

I am not opposed to being liberal about who to let join the group and
who not to. I think anyone so far has had the option to come to the
MTT site and make a request with the administrator saying they wish to
join. They can write a paragraph introducing themselves and making a
case as to why they need to be allowed in. That arrangement has always
been in place.

But not everyone wants to write and discuss. Most people seem to
prefer to just read. Or there would be a ton of comments at my blog.

(8)

Access http://groups.google.com/group/madhesh-think-tank/about
Only members can view group content
Only members can view group members list
People can request an invitation to join
Members can create and edit pages
Members can upload files
Only members can post

I can see why only select members may join this think tank, otherwise
things would go out of hand, and the quality of the conversation would
go downhill. But it makes no sense to not allow anyone and everyone to
view the archives. There are many people who might not qualify to join
this think tank, but who should have every right to follow the
discussions here. Our current arrangement is undemocratic and opaque.
It is too cliquish. "Only members can view group content." I request
the group administrator Bijay Raut to please make the archives public.
Thanks.

(9)

(1) Leaders like Yadav-Tripathy-Mahato should learn to address Pahadi
crowds in Nepali because it is time for the three (plus) Madhesi
parties to get unified and expand into all 75 districts.
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2009/01/unification-of-madhesi-parties.html

(2) It is unrealistic to expect the East West railway line to connect
all the populous Terai towns. Further south you go from the Chure,
worse is the flood problem during the monsoon. Also, this is not a
railway line just for the Madhesi, but for all of Nepal, actually
especially for the hill districts. So the railways line should be as
close to the Chure as possible, just like the highway. Actually it
might not be a bad idea to have common bridges for both the highway
and the railway.

Provided the right (non-corrupt, transparent, speedy, bold, capable)
political leadership, this railway line could materialize fast through
BOOT. Build, Own, Operate, Transfer. You go for FDI. There is plenty
of money in the global marketplace. The same applies to the mega hydel
projects.

(3) I liked Sukhdev Shah saying he wishes to be an ambassador of all
Nepalis. That is the next goal for the Madhesi Movement: national
leadership.

(10)

I wish Subhashii had provided the web address for this piece of news.
But from the little information I have, I would like to express my
reaction to the event.

What was the event? Was this at the UML convention? Were Mahato, Yadav
and Tripathy invited guests? If this was at the UML convention, and if
the vast majority of those in the audience were people whose primary
language is Nepali, and we all know Mahato speaks fluent Nepali, it
might have been a good idea for Mahato to have addressed the crowd in
Nepali on his own.

On the other hand, more than 15 years ago Mirja Dil Sad Beg, then a
RPP MP, addressed a mass meeting in Sidhupalchok in Hindi.

The three Madhesi leaders speaking in Nepali does not take away from
the fact that Hindi is the natural link language in the Terai.

Another way to look at this is that there is a certain Pahadi
hostility to the Hindi language. That hostility needs to subside.
___________________________________________________________________________
Butwal...... followed by disgruntled crowd against Mahato for
addressing in Hindi, Upendra Yadav and Hridyesh Tripathi spoke in
Nepali. ...... the mass meeting and walked out. There is a need
for UMDF to be reactivated. .

Does anyone of us hold any data to prove scientifically which language
is the most feasible one to join the people of Madhesh speaking
maithili, bhojpuri, awadhi, tharu etc. However, it is now time to
integrate English in Madhesh.

Subhash Shah
London

Mahato act angers crowd
Feb 16 - The mass jeered when General Secretary of the Nepal
Sadhbhavana Party Rajendra Mahato started waxing eloquent in Hindi
instead of Nepali. Despite the protest, Mahato went on, saying, "I
don't think it's difficult to understand Hindi. Why are you objecting
to the use of Hindi when you are living in Madhesh?" "In new Nepal,
all groups should have representation," he went on, "New Nepal should
accept people, who speak different languages." A member of the
convention management committee, Ramnath Dhakal, tried to pacify the
crowd, in vain. It was then that Mahato gave in to the crowd's demand.
"This kind of mentality will not help build new Nepal," Mahato
concluded in Nepali.

(11)

This daily digest from the Madhesi Think Tank today has been my
favorite to date for all the congratulatory messages to Dr. Sukhdev
Shah. It is a big deal, a huge deal that the Nepali ambassadors to the
US and UK are both Madhesi for the first time ever. This is a tectonic
shift.

When I was a little kid, we used to hear of Dr. Shah as someone who
was at the World Bank/IMF in the US. Then he showed up on stage with
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in Janakpur at a Barah Bigha mass meeting
after the 1990 mass movement as someone who had helped pay for some of
BP's medical expenses. I was there at the mass meeting. He spoke mixed
Maithili-Hindi-English-Nepali. A few years later I attended his talk
program at TU in Kirtipur. I was in the back, I did not get to talk to
him one on one. He at the time said it was worse for the Madhesis in
Nepal than the blacks in America. A few years later we got to know
each other through online interactions. The first time he emailed me
the way I felt was similar to this:
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2009/01/mitch-kapor-now-following-me-on-twitter.html
I was elated.

And he was a rare Madhesi who took affront at my mistreatment at the
storm-in-a-teacup Google Group called the ND Forum.
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2007/02/kiran-sitoula-is-short-fat-idiot.html

Dr. Shah became qualified when it was near impossible for Madhesis to
get qualified. And if it had not been for the anti-Madhesi prejudice
he would have been ambassador to the US a long time ago. Better late
than never. But we have not arrived yet. There is much work that still
remains.

This is a symbolic achievement. But this helps us go for the big
achievements for the masses. This is a step in the right direction. We
have to celebrate this. I look forward to a felicitation program in
his honor here in New York City.

We have to keep pushing the limits. We have to keep looking for new
goals. http://madhesi.blogspot.com/2009/02/broadband-and-madhesi-liberation.html

(12)

Broadband And Madhesi Liberation
http://madhesi.blogspot.com/2009/02/broadband-and-madhesi-liberation.html

(13)

I think this Google Group is a pretty good place to start work on the
new constitution. I think Nepal should shoot for the shortest, most
progressive constitution in the world. The details come in the form of
laws and bills later on. This is what I have proposed since a long
time ago. What do you all think?

http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2009/01/unification-of-madhesi-parties.html
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2007/11/proposed-constitution.html
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-shape-federalism.html

PS. When you send emails to this think tank, please tidy it up. Only
send your writing, not the emails of everyone else in that threat
conversation, because those are already posted before you replied.

(14)

Web 5.0 Is Da Bomb
http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2009/02/web-50-is-da-bomb.html