The world is pending Nepal. And it is logical. In just a few days the young democratic federal republic (proclaimed in 2008 after A long monarchy) has seen how the government gave A 180 degree turn In your social networks policy, resigned its powerful prime minister and (most importantly) the nation shook with a wave of street protests That has left dozens of dead and at least a thousand injured. There may be discrepancies about drifting who has taken the revolt, but not on its engine: a ‘gene z’ that Ask for changes.
And Nepal is not the only country in which it does.
The ‘D’ day of Nepal. It is not easy to identify the ‘D’ day of revolts like the one that lives Nepal. If you had to look for one, the turning point is probably the September 4when the Government of Sharma Oli ordered the blockade of 26 social networksincluding Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp or X. The Executive justified it as a matter of national sovereignty, but critics soon interpreted it as a cut of freedoms and the population (especially the youngest) as the loss of one of its main windows to the world.
The discomfort resulted in protests Earlier this week in the capital, Katmandú, a mobilization that in principle should be peaceful but ended up the worst possible ways, with disturbances that arrived at Parliament and those who responded with a forcefulness with a forcefulness More than questionable. So much, in fact, that Human Rights Watch (HRW) has already asked to investigate.


What was the result? Shots Victims. Fires that have affected Parliament and other government buildings. And an escalation in the protests that has spread beyond Katmandú. Little served the Resignation waterfall of ministers that followed the police repression or that the government turned back in your social media policy. He didn’t even matter The resignation of Sharma Oli, who had been holding the position of Prime Minister alternately since 2015.
The protests climbed, clearly claiming A political changeand leaving a tragic balance. On Wednesday the local newspaper ‘The Kathmandu Post’ He spokeciting the Ministry of Health, of at least 30 dead and more than a thousand injured.
Of ‘Nepo Kids’, networks … and much more. Choking what happened in Nepal only to WhatsApp or Instagram block would be a mistake. Or at least excessive simplification. Before the government’s decision, in the country he had been warming up for a long time the Nepo Kids (A sum of “nepotism” and “child”, in English), word that identifies the children of politicians and the Nepali bourgeoisie that shows its high standard of living precisely in networks.
Actually that discomfort is another symptom of the real problem that has resulted in the wave of protests: the anger of a country in which 20.3% of the population Live below the poverty threshold and thousands of young people are forced to emigrate.
Some extra data. To understand the reality of the country, it is good to handle certain keys. The NGO aid in action ensures that (at least in 2019) every day 1,600 Nepali They are forced to make their bags to look for life in countries like China or India, which explains the brutal dependence that the nation has of remittances. That data (and others, such as the poverty rate we quoted before) adds to the problem of nepotism and corruption denounced these days in the streets.
In the ranking of “Perception of corruption” Prepared by Transparency International the Asian nation occupies the 107th of a total of 180 nations. Eight out of ten people (84%) in fact consider it a “big problem.”
The ‘gen z’, in the focus. Nepal’s protests do not stand out only for their impact and consequences. They also do it for something that they coincide The majority of Analysts: Its epicenter is a very concrete population sector, the Z generation, the cohort born between the late 90s and the early 2010s. They are the ones who suffer unemployment in a special way, in which the discontent has been dug for the ostentation of the ‘neo kids’ or the blockade of the networks and those who (in view of what happened in Kathmandu) institutions. Hence They claim changes In the country.
“Known as the ‘manifestations of generation Z’, Nepal’s youth mobilizations show the growing political influence of a digitally active generation that seeks to forge the future of the country,” Reflect An analysis published by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada Foundation. “The protests reflect the deep frustration for the precarious economic perspectives, inequality and corruption. They highlight the discontent of one of the world’s youngest nations in the face of the shortage of opportunities.”
@cnn Protests in Nepal’s Capital Kathmandu Were Initially Triggered by A Ban on Social Media, But Quickly Expanded To Include Issues of Wider Corruption, Lack of Economic Opportunities and Police Violence Against Demonstraors. CNN’s Kristie lu Stout Breaks Down the So-Called “Gen Z” Protests that has seen Young People Criticize “Nepo Babies,” Or entitled Children of Government Officials. #CNN #News #Nepal #Protests
Why is it important? First, because it helps us better understand what happens in Nepal. Second because it connects with a broader trend that can be traced in other parts of Asia, such as Point out in Bloomberg The columnist Karishma Vaswani. In An article entitled “The protesters of generation Z challenge the old Asian guard”, the analyst relates what happened in Nepal with other similar (and recent) revolts in Indonesia, Sri Lanza and Bangladesh.
All apparently with a common denominator: the role of the youngest population. “Asian youth is furious. Protests show a generation that is not willing to accept inequality and injustice as a destination.”
Beyond Nepal. Vaswani refers to three episodes that have shaken Asian politics. The most recent leaves it Indonesia, where The decision of the House of Representatives to improve wages (and Prebendas) of its legislators unleashed a wave of protests that resulted in dead and hundreds of detainees. The spark jumped through the anger they generated The new privileges of the legislators, but the protests were intensified after The death of a deliveryman. As has happened in Nepal, the authorities had no choice but reverse.
Another common point between what happened in Nepal and Indonesia is The role of young people. Nothing soping if its demographic structure is taken into account. As Remember Vaswaniabout half of the Indonesian population is under 30 years old, a percentage that rises above 50% in the case of Nepal. According to Oosga, the average age of Indonesia is 29.6 years. Nepal’s, only 24.
Other sources Situation those indicators slightly abovebut confirm in any case the demographic relevance of generation Z. Some means They have referred even to Indonesia’s protests as the “‘One Piece'” “revolution for the use of the popular comic manga flag as an emblem of youth discontent. The same banner could be seen these days In the streets of Nepal.
Are they the only cases? No. Vaswani remembers the Student lifting Registered in Bangladesh last year, which in turn derived in episodes of violence and forced the powerful prime minister, Sheik Hasinato flee to India. He had been in power since 2009. Another case, something older, is that of Sri Lanka, where in 2022 Another revolt led above all by young people forced the president’s resignation Gotabaya Rajapksa. The question that Vaswani and Other analystsespecially in Nepal, is … and now? What comes after protests?
Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2 and Martijn vonk (Unspash)
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