By Rabi Raj Thapa
The Gen-Z protest came to Nepal with a lot of hope and youth aspirations. Gen-Z appeared like a thunderbolt but it was suppressed so brutally that it became world news. Foreign news media also began to compare it with the Arab Spring and South Asian youth movements that toppled their respective government.
In fact, Gen Z has more of a socioeconomic agenda than political. Protest against the ban on 26 social media platforms and rampant corruption is the most pressing national issues by the first non-partisan type of Nepali youth.
Gen-Z are the first to raise the issue of opulence and princely luxurious lifestyle of sons and daughters of the political leaders. exposure of their involvement and various financial crimes could be one of the principal causes for banning social media platforms.
Infiltrators and saboteurs are common words the government more often use when it suppresses any protest organized by non-partisan groups outside the periphery of major Loktantric partisan political parties. Gen Z has no specific leader, no national coordinator in sight. But it is important to note its national dimension, which reflects its popular support and sympathy.
Actually, Nepali people are shocked by the number of dead and injured by bullet wounds. The killing of more than 20 and hundreds of gunshot injuries within six hours of the young generation is a serious matter.
One group wearing government uniforms carrying firearms, shooting at young kids wearing school/college uniforms carrying play-cards, depicts a horrible scene. There can be children of the same underprivileged political leaders and security personnel who the government in power has always abused and manipulated.
Since the coalition majority government came to power, it has shown intolerance and the brute use of force on many occasions. The government will be mistaken if it thinks it can contain the movement by controlling mass protests and rallies in the valley only.
A specific and spectacular feature of GEN-Z is that it has spread like wildfire nationwide within a span of around one week, it has drawn global attention and has strong support and sympathy of all non-partisan except “Jhole partisan political activists” of Nepal.
Recently, Anne Applebaum has written a book titled Autocracy Inc. that reminds Nepal Republic’s Autocratic leaders. Our leaders fit her description of autocratic leaders.
In her book, she describes an autocratic system as having features like “… a bad man at the top, controls the army and the police, have evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.” Now her narratives totally fit into Nepal’s present system and rulers.
Anne Applebaum further writes, “…. autocracies get support by a web of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists that operate beyond their own borders…” These narratives perfectly tally with what Gen Z are talking about. Most importantly and sadly, they are impervious of international criticism, they feel no shame about the use of open brutality.
To sum up, writer Anne Applebaum suggests, “If democracies are to survive, they must learn to fight back.”
Now the ball is in Nepal’s Gen Z’s court. Let us shake off our silence and passivity. All Nepalis need to take moral responsibility to show our solidarity and support to our kids in their teens and twenties. Let us not be subservient to the intimidation and bidding of anarchic autocratic leaders. Otherwise, all Nepali people ultimately will have to pay heavy price for our cowardice.
As far as the security agencies are concerned, they should remember their obligation to protect the lives of people, take responsibility for excessive and disproportional use of force. Security personnel must give serious concern over fire-control and filter-out trigger-happy security personnel to save innocent lives and the credibility of the organization as well.
Finally, it is the political leaders and specially the Home Ministry that is fully responsible for all highhandedness and security mismanagement that we are seeing today.
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