From http://www.rednepal.com/2009/0... Make Peace, Not War Spread Love, Not Hatred It makes me kinda disturbed to see what is going on with the Nepalese populace right now. There are distinctly divisions - divisions of ethnicity, and divisions of political beliefs. The Tharu revolt hadn't subsided when the political rivalry between the centrist forces, and the ultra-leftists took the center stage. For me at least, the Maoists were clearly at fault after the leakage of the video. It's another thing that the leakage might be a conspiracy, but it does not change the words that Prachanda spoke in front of his cadres. What I'd have liked to see was some sort of a conciliatory statement from Prachanda during his press conference a few days ago. That was not to be. Prachanda looked adamant about what he had spoken, and tried to defend his statements. Though we can still understand the hardships he might have to go through dealing with most of his cadres who have the violent urge in them to turn over the system of the country, he, as a leader, and as a person who was elected with such huge margin, should have shown some ethical standards. He should have had the courage to ask for forgiveness, and explain clearly that this was something that had happened long ago, and that this was not how the Maoist strategy of the present looked like. However, Prachanda took a different step. He labelled the video as true, but tried to rationalize everything that he said. That is not a sign of a good leader, at least in my book. Furthermore, despite his statements about Katuwal in the video, and his expression of hatred against Katuwal which emerged as a result of Katuwal trying to prevent the politicization (Mao-ization) of the army, he still wants to see Katuwal fired. Anyone sensible enough, anyone apart from the brainwashed lot of people that Maoism has produced in our country, would be against the Maoists' proposal of sacking Katuwal. Still, Prachanda acts without any shame. Though I've been critical of the Maoists fearing their agendas, I'd also been respectful of them because some of the things they have accomplished in Nepal is nothing ordinary. I still remember, back in the day, when I was in my village, the rich and the "upper-caste" people would mistreat the others in ways unimaginable. Many people talk nostalgically of peace because they were not the victims of that system. The Maoists grew with this very aim to destablize the status-quo and achieve something significant for the country and for the proletariat - it was their end aims that helped them garner support for their movement (aside from the forceful abductions and everything else, of course). However, this time the Maoists were clearly at fault. The civilian supremacy argument did not have enough grounds, and even if it did, the video completely destroyed any pro-Maoist argument that could be made. Still, the Maoists do not realize this. They have directed their cadres to go out in the streets and protest. Their district-chiefs have threatened the Nepali Congress and the UML activists to leave the district or else face life-threatening consequences. When asked about this, Prachanda did not give a clear reply in his press conference. There is also another group that seems to be growing highly dissatisfied with Prachanda. The group consists mostly of the previous feudals, the status quoists, and the new generation of students, who have had the opportunity to learn something different that was not dictated by the Maoists. Their movement seems to be gaining ground on different forums, and social networking sites, especially facebook. People are cursing Prachanda, Maoists, and speaking of a new war. Is that seriously the way we want to go now? I think no. But, we need to do something about it. Many of us are afraid to speak against Maoists in the streets. We just have taken this anonymity that the internet has provided us and vilify them. At this time, the Maoists cadres, and the YCL members, who are mostly of our age are protesting in the streets. We don't give a f |_| C |{ about them in our world, for we are far away and they can not harm us in any way. On the other hand, they're highly intolerant of views expressed against them and will result to physical violence at the slightest and punish the non-believers and non-supporters of the Maoists. How long can this continue? We've had dreams of peace after such a long time - we can not see another war start out again. We have not had strategists for peace and for the nation (vague words I know) - we've only had strategists for some parochial interests, like Prachanda, as we can see in the video, or any other leader for that matter. I realize that my ranting is taking me nowhere. I am a critic of the Maoists, but I do not want to see another civil war. Those of us who are away from Nepal, shout in the forums and groups - kill Prachanda, army take over, kill maoists and supporters of maoists, among many other things. But do you think that is the solution? I've most of my family members in Nepal, and I'm more worried about them, and the nation as a whole to advocate for a war. I know that these chants of war from the internet populace will be short lived, and that after a few days they will be too busy in their own worlds to spare even some minutes to read events in Nepal. Still these are the people clamoring for a war. Have some sense people. We need to figure a middle way. We cannot let our ravaged nation to go more downhill than it has already. I would love to hear what might be the possible peaceful steps that might be taken to restore confidence in between the different stakeholders now. I know that my article does not have any cohesivenessness and lacks coherence, so I'd like to thank you for bearing till here with me, if you have.