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14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

tribuneindia.com

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Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#81

Post by mananaysiempre »

ycombinete wrote: post #56
asib wrote: post #17

> The demonstration turned violent when some protesters entered the Parliament complex, prompting police to resort to baton charges, tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, eyewitnesses said. 14 people dead from so-called "non-lethal" means. How do 14 people end up dead without the police coming with intent to do harm?

The correct term for these means is "less-lethal".

Also, it’s literally a war crime to use tear gas on the battlefield, yet it’s somehow OK to use it on civilians. (I understand part of the reason is to prevent a slippery slope from tear gas to chlorine, but it’s still telling.)

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#82

Post by SirHumphrey »

KaiserPro wrote: post #45
perihelions wrote: post #7

Hard-earned freedoms are wasted on societies who don't have memories of what it took to earn them. Freedom is a ratchet: slides easily and frictionlessly one way, and offers immense resistance in the other. This is all so disheartening.

> are wasted on societies who don't have memories of what it took to earn them I mean thats a bit rich given the massive civil war, dictatorship and overthrow of the monarchy that all happened within living memory.

It's an overtly American perspective - perspective of a nation perpetually terrified of repeating the downfall of the Roman Republic.

In reality long periods of political instability make people quite happy to trade freedoms for peace.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#83

Post by jeffgreco »

canadiantim wrote: post #64
cedws wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not aware of a single nation where the ratchet is loosening. It appears freedom is being eroded everywhere. The most disheartening thing is that nothing works to stop it. There are countries where millions of people have protested, but in time the protests always fizzle or are stamped out, and things continue on the same trajectory.

[flagged]

Demonstrably false. The press is being actively extorted by the government in an effort to dictate their coverage. Our academic system is being eviscerated by the government in part to undermine dissent against the Israeli war. Corporations are being punished by the government for efforts to develop inclusive workplaces.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#84

Post by beardyw »

> The prime minister said the party is not against social media, “but what cannot be accepted is those doing business in Nepal, making money, and yet not complying with the law”.

I accept that there is corruption and manipulation by the government, but experience tells us also that these companies may be avoiding taxes towards zero.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#85

Post by mothballed »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #57
mothballed wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protests are rarely effectual, they serve more to gauge interest of others and provide connections. In the end the state is a force of violence. Voting works in so much as it is roughly a tally of who would win if we all pulled knives on each other. Democracy was formed at a time when guns and knives were the most effectual tools the state had to fight against the populace. Now that the government has more asymmetric…

> Protests are rarely effectual False “Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change” [1]. Exhibit A: the same region, literally last month. First protesters in Bangladesh lead “to the ouster of the then-prime minister, Sheikh Hasina” [2]. Then Indonesia “pledged to revoke lawmakers’ perks and pr…

That study appears to be comparing violent protests to non-violent protests.

At 3.5% of the populace taking up arms (not in protest but in war), that would far outnumber armed government officials in most countries. I don't doubt that a government choosing to concede at the point those 3.5% signaled peacefully they are likely to get violence soon, since the government conceding before that happens indicates they are weak enough to not be able to fight it off. Of course, If you have 3.5% of the populace fighting you can defeat even a horribly asymmetric situation, as the Chechens showed when they gained independence in the first Chechen war against Russia where almost everything beyond small arms were obtained via capture from the enemy.

At best your study shows that a government that capitulates before violence is more likely to be defeated, which makes sense since both sides tend to pick violence when they actually think they can win -- and if both sides think they can win then odds are quite good the odds of winning lie somewhere closer to the middle of the odds if the actors are rational. Concession before violence is more likely to indicate the odds lie outside the middle.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#86

Post by alephnerd »

beardyw wrote: post #84

> The prime minister said the party is not against social media, “but what cannot be accepted is those doing business in Nepal, making money, and yet not complying with the law”. I accept that there is corruption and manipulation by the government, but experience tells us also that these companies may be avoiding taxes towards zero.

They have all registered with Nepal's revenue office and are paying VAT [0]

The issue is the government in Nepal wants every social media holding company to have a designated person in Nepal who they can directly communicate with for takedowns without going through the traditional process, and if the company does not flllow through, hold that person legally liable.

It's a blatant censorship ploy because protests and dissatisfaction against the KP Sharma Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and Prachanda musical chairs along with various constant corruption scandals are pushing Nepalis to ask for an alternative.

[0] - https://ekantipur.com/business/2025/01/28/en/from-google-met...

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#87

Post by sillysaurusx »

bhickey wrote: post #62
robertlagrant wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just went to look you up on your profile to see why you might be hanging out with government officials, and just fyi your website link seems gone.

One of my college friends is a documentary filmmaker. He dragged me along as he followed a group of glaciologists up to a high-risk melt lake in the Himalayas. Somewhere above 16,000 feet I got altitude sickness and headed back to Kathmandu ahead of the group. I got stuck in the city for two or three days waiting for my flight, under the supervision of the team's local fixer. This guy had his finger in every pie: tou…

That actually sounds like a documentary I’d like to watch. Was it ever released?

You managed to make melting ice sound exciting.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#88

Post by wtcactus »

bjackman wrote: post #41
asib wrote: post #17

> The demonstration turned violent when some protesters entered the Parliament complex, prompting police to resort to baton charges, tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, eyewitnesses said. 14 people dead from so-called "non-lethal" means. How do 14 people end up dead without the police coming with intent to do harm?

Also note the phrasing. The content is "the police killed 14 people". But the form is "the situation turned violent as a result of the protester's actions".

Isn’t this very similar to what protestors did on the January 6th incident in the USA?

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#89

Post by factorialboy »

lionturtle wrote: post #10

It was absolutely not just social media ban, it was mostly youth protesting against the corrupt government and unfairness, social media ban was one element that was against the freedom of speech, but it was right around the time where everyone was documenting the rich politicians, their business connections and their families that have been living lavishly and just inheriting the election seats from generation to gen…

Classic color revolution — China and India will be watching intently.

Re: 14 Killed in anti-government protests in Nepal

#90

Post by myrmidon »

canadiantim wrote: post #64
cedws wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not aware of a single nation where the ratchet is loosening. It appears freedom is being eroded everywhere. The most disheartening thing is that nothing works to stop it. There are countries where millions of people have protested, but in time the protests always fizzle or are stamped out, and things continue on the same trajectory.

[flagged]

What exactly are you referring to, reduced political correctness demands?

On the other hand, you have the government meddling with the political alignment of educational institutions, which is both new and alarming (e.g. the Harvard thing).

Domestic use of military is another really bad precedent from a "freedom" point of view, so I think the current administration is significantly net-negative so far.

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