FILM AND PUBLIC TALK ON NEPAL:
UNDERSTANDING THE CRISIS IN NEPAL: THE MAOISTS, THE MONARCH, AND THE STRUGGLE
FOR DEMOCRACY
Speaker: Deepak Thapa
March 4th, 2006; 8pm. Admission: $5
Earth Sciences Auditorium (33 Wilcocks Street), University of Toronto
(event includes the screening of the film ‘Schools in the Crossfire’ about the
impact of the Maoist conflict on schools in Nepal)
The University of Toronto’s Nepal Group invites you to a public talk by Mr.
Deepak Thapa – a renowned Nepalese journalist – on the current political crisis
in Nepal. This talk, partly sponsored by Centre for International Studies (Munk
Centre) and Centre for South Asian Studies, is being organized on March 4th,
2006 (Saturday) at 8pm in the Earth Sciences Auditorium of the University of
Toronto (33 Wilcocks Street; between Wilcocks and Huron Street). Admission is $5
This past February marked two watershed events in Nepali history: one year of
direct rule by the king on the 1st, and 10 years of insurgency by the Maoists
on the 13th. The democratic political parties have been in the margins for four
years. The talk by Mr. Deepak Thapa will provide a brief overview of the
circumstances that led to this situation and seek to provide possible exits
from the political quagmire. Mr Deepak Thapa is a journalist and book editor
from Kathmandu. The 2005-06 recipient of The Asia Foundation's William P.
Fuller Fellowship in Conflict Resolution, he is currently a Visiting Fellow at
the Centre for International Conflict Resolution, Columbia University. He is
the editor of Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal (Martin Chautari,
Kathmandu, 2003) and author of A Kingdom under Siege:Nepal's Maoist Insurgency,
1996-2004 (Zed Books, London, 2004), and author of numerous articles and papers
on the ongoing conflict in Nepal.
The event will include the screening of Dhruba Basnet’s new documentary film
called ‘Schools in the Crossfire’ (2004; 52 minutes) for which Mr Deepak Thapa
wrote the script and provides the narration. The Maoists have targeted schools
and students as part of their political strategy to pressure the government,
with tactics ranging from calling education shutdowns to outright attacks on
school buildings. Schools in the Crossfire goes deep into the battle zones and
uncovers the unenviable situation of teachers and students as they learn to
survive between the army and the rebels.
For more information contact Diplav Sapkota at (416) 755-1314
(Email:diplav66@yahoo.com) or Sabin Ninglekhu at (647) 273-8045 (email:
s.ninglekhu@utoronto.ca).
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