Issues Confronting Youth and Mass Media to Reclaim Democracy

Dr. Krishna B. Bhattachan

INTRODUCTION

Currently we all live in a Shakespearean world of "TO BE OR NOT TO BE." We have democracy; we don't have democracy! We have constitutional monarch; we don't have constitutional monarch! We have Parliament; we don't have Parliament! We have youth; we don't have youth! We have elderly people; we don't have elderly people! We have children; we don't have children! We have mass media; we don't have mass media! We have political parties; we don't have political parties! We have constitution; we don't have constitution! We have government; we don't have government! We have local government; we don't have local government! We have leaders; we don't have leaders! We have rule of law, we don’t have rule of law! We have governance; we don't have governance! and so on. In brief, we are in a state of utter chaos and confusion.

The Nepalese people reclaimed democracy in 1990 after staging a people's movement. The "business as usual" in the last twelve years has brought the politics back to square one after the event of October 4th. The thrust and content of, and issues raised, in this paper would have been substantially different if the event of October 4th would have never occurred.

In this paper, I will first give an overview of key terms used and identify pressing issues confronting youth and mass media to reclaim democracy.

KEY TERMS

Three key terms are used in this paper, which is evident from the very title of this paper. These are democracy, youth and mass media. Before I discuss pressing issues confronting youth and mass media, let me given an overview of these three key terms.

Democracy

Democracy means different things to different people depending on the individual, ideology, paradigm, culture, or context. Sociologist Max Weber defined "democracy" as the universal access to public positions and increasing sphere of influence of public opinion. In this sense, democracy in Nepal is caged in the "Singha Darbar" and urban areas. Political sociologist S. M. Lipset defined it as a political system with a peaceful transfer of power and a social mechanism to enable people to influence in decisions made by public officials. Well, in the last twelve years of democracy we had a peaceful transfer of power but such transfers were founded on corruption, deception, petty interests and so on, but not on common good and national interest. Sociologist Robert N. Bellah et al. defined it as "paying attention" but in Nepal paying attention was confined in misuse of power and authority, including corruption. The voices of oppressed and suppressed groups such as women, Dalits, indigenous nationalities, Madhesi, language and religious groups, and other civil society organizations were never heard. Democracy is often defined as rule "of the people, by the people, for the people," but, in practice, it was, and is, often to 'of the' and 'to the' people but not 'by the' people.

I define "democracy" as a political process in which people are fully sovereign and diverse groups of people cooperate among themselves in a participatory way for their common good. Thus, democracy means elimination of hegemony or domination of caste, language, religion, culture, sex, region and class. Also, it is not a melting pot and over centralization of power and authority. On the contrary it is a respect towards pluralism or diversity and decentralization or devolution of power and authority through ethnic autonomy and right to self-determination.

Mass Media

Mass media includes print and electronic media. Mass media could be used or misused. Undoubtedly, free press is one of the pillars of democracy. Democracy simply cannot exist in its absence. Democracy would cease to exist, if the rulers manufacture consent by controlling mass media. Mass media play a crucial role of informing and influencing peoples and rulers. Mass media should be watchdog, not lapdog of any political party or foreign agency; generate discourse for emancipation of people from all kinds of suppression, oppression and exploitation, not for technical control; create public opinion, not private opinion; and become pro-social welfare, not anti-social welfare.

Mass media also should be democratic if it should contribute for democracy. In Nepal, recent researches on mass media has revealed that media industry is controlled by the same dominant group in terms of caste, language, religion, culture, sex and region. Democracy has been caged inside "Singha Darba" and urban areas precisely because mass media also has been caged inside these cages. Radio and Television programs have potential to reach out to most of the population but centrally manufactured, not free, information get through it.

Youth

Who are youth in Nepal? I am sure that the answers differ enormously from one individual to another, given the diversity in terms of caste, ethnicity, religion, culture, class, region and also differential effects of the processes of globalization, westernization, Nepalization, Hinduization, Sanskritization, Indigenization etc. Also, international, national, and local legal, economic, social, cultural and religious practices define youth in different ways. Generally, people who are 15 to 24 years are considered as youth. Given the political-economic and socio-cultural context of Nepal, I consider people belonging to 15 to 24 years as early youth and 25 to 40 years as late youth. Those people who are above 40 years but claim to be youth are nothing but "pseudo youth."

PRESSING ISSUES

There are many significant issues facing youth and mass media in reclaiming democracy. I will confine my discussion on the pressing issues that I think need more discussion in Nepal.

Reclaiming democracy

After the royal takeover of executive power since October 4, 2002 by (mis)using Article 127 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 the Constitution has been mummified. The Council of Ministers, de facto advisors of the King in its real sense, led by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, appears to be "inefficient" to restore law and order, hold mid-term election and election of the local bodies—DDCs, VDCs, Municipalities and Wards, solve Maoist insurgency, implement development works, and stop economy to go further downhill. In such a serious crisis situation, both youth and media can and should play a critical role to put back the de-railed democracy back in the track. Direct participation of youth and generation of public opinion by media in reclaiming democracy are of urgency to come out of the present crisis. In order to do so, both youth and media should focus on the following activities:

Political participation and mobilization

Youth, specially students, are very active in politics but they have often been misused by the "virtual dead" generation and pseudo youth in many ways. Political participation of a large number of youth who are not student, who reside in rural areas, who belong to women, Dalit, Madhesi, indigenous nationalities and language and religious groups and who are not affiliated with any political parties and its fraternal/sister organizations are confined in casting votes only. They indeed have no meaningful participation and mobilization. Mass media can and should encourage youth to be active in national and local politics. Youth also should be pro-active in doing so.

Build alliance for People's Movement to reclaim democracy

In the post October 4th situation, it is by now clear that people are not really sovereign, army is not under the control of elected people, executive power is not with the elected representatives of the Nepalese people and the King is no more a constitutional monarch. In order to reclaim sovereignty of people in its real sense of the term, army should be under the control of elected representatives of the people. The existing polarization of triangular political forces, namely, the Maoist insurgents, the political parties under the parliamentary from of government and the King, all political parties should form an alliance among themselves and also with different civil society organizations and also with the Maoist insurgents to form a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution.

Constituent assembly

'Constituent assembly,' according to Canada at the Forks Workshop reports, is a "group of citizens/individual stakeholders gathered together to discuss general issues" with a purpose "to present the public will – or the people's mandate of governance (i.e. on the constitution)." The overall objective of a constituent assembly is "to generate a set of propositions (that represent the mass public's view point) and to expose them to a nation-wide referendum." Clearly, youths are the prime stakeholders and media is the prime agent of public opinion formation.

Given the mummified state of the Constitution and failure of political parties to strengthen and/or save democracy in the last twelve years by amending the Constitution, it is now evident that 'normal politics' and 'normal governance' has failed to make constitutional changes. 'Normal politics' is in frozen state because restoration of the House of Representatives is nowhere in sight, political parties has been skirted off or ignored by the King, and undemocratic constitutional changes are not acceptable, on the one hand, and on the other, Maoist insurgency ahs been intensifying, the main viable option left for reclaiming democracy, restoring peace, and getting out of the present crisis is a "revolutionary transformation" through constituent assembly. As we have lost other opportunities and cheaper and quicker options in the past, constituent assembly may appear to be expensive and little time consuming but given the bleak scenario of the future, skirting off the idea of constituent assembly may prove to be terribly costly and unbearable.

Concerning the mechanisms for selection of the delegates for constituent assembly, nomination and random selection of individuals should be ruled out. The debate should be focused on the solution found through tier system. One of the necessary tiers is representation of different caste, ethnic, language, religious, gender and regional groups. Other civil society organizations and political parties and independent elections could be other tiers. All delegates should reflect group interests. The delegates of the constituent assembly should travel in all parts of the country to have a face-to-face interaction between the citizens. Mass media should play a key role in disseminating information coming out from such meetings. The minimum time frame of the constituent assembly should be one year but not more than two years. Decision in Constituent aseembly should be by two-thirds majority. The Constituent Assembly may come up with a set of alternative propositions to be ratified by the Nepalese people through referendum. The Nepalese people should ratify the finalized Constitution through referendum.

There should be no conditionality for constituent assembly and the results should be binding to all, the Maoist insurgents, political parties, the King, civil society and all the citizens. If the final out come is for multi-party politic system, the King and the Maoist insurgents also should abide with it and if it is otherwise, political parties also should abide with the decision. Similarly, if the result is for People's Republic as proposed by the Maoist insurgents, all political parties, the King, civil society and the Nepalese citizens should abide with it and if other wise, the Maoist insurgents also should abide it. Further, if the result is for the direct leadership of the King, the Maoist insurgents, political parties, civil society and the citizens should abide with it and if other wise, the King should abide it. Once the issues are settled, the losers should be allowed to use to expand their ideas and gain support of the people in a peaceful way and periodic referendum may be used to express the will of the people for change or status quo.

Public Propositions and Referendum

Propositions of national concern and/or significance should be passed through referendum at different levels and it should be a part of the democratic process. If any proposition is concern of the whole nation it most be approved through national referendum; if it is of the region, through regional referendum; if of the locals, through local referendum. For example, whether or not Mahakali treaty should be done with India, it should be decided by national referendum. Similarly, whether or not a highway from Beni to Mustang should be built or not should be decided by the peoples of Magdi and Mustang district. Whether or not a pipal tree in a village should be fell down should be decided by villagers themselves.

Demolish leadership of "virtual dead" generation and Pseudo Youth

Nepal is ruled by the "adults" and "youth," who in fact are virtually dead generation" given the fact that the life expectancy in Nepal is below 6o years. Political parties and leaders talk about transfer of leadership from "old" to "young" generation, but these "young" leaders are no lesser than fifty years. The late "youth" and the real "youth" have always been used by this "virtually dead" generation as "jhole karyakarta" or followers. It is now high time that real youth and late youth claim their space for leadership by displacing the leaders belonging to "virtual dead" generation and pseudo youth.

Commitment for national development

Commitment for diversity or pluralism

National development and social and economic (in)equalities are interconnected. Widening inequalities breeds poverty, violence and insurgency and equality brings national development. This is best illustrated in India;s context by sociologists M.N. Srinivas (1995:170). thus:

"Commitment to democratic processes results in the sociologist having a deep concern in national development; the expectations of ordinary people have risen everywhere and they can only be satisfied by swift development as well as by a swift and sharp reduction of existing inequalities. Development which only makes the rich richer and leaves the condition of the masses of the poor unchanged is likely to produce chronic political instability which, in turn, will hamstrung development. Commitment to development is therefore also a commitment to the reduction of economic and social inequalities."

Such a sociological observation is applicable to countries like Nepal, which is also characterized by socio-cultural diversity. We all know very well that the predatory, unitary Hindu State, Nepal has always pursued a wrong policy and practices of "melting pot" of different caste, ethnicity, language, religion and culture. Therefore, most of the parts of 234 years was dominated by one or the other forms of authoritarian political systems. In the last twelve years of multi-party political system, multi-caste and ethnicity and multi-language were accepted but never practiced sincerely. Unfortunately, multi-religious character was denied by declaring Nepal as a Hindu State. Even the Census of 2001 identified 100 caste/ethnic groups, 92 languages and … religions. Anthropological and linguistic studies shows that there are more groups than identified by the Census of 2001.

Equality and equity

In democracy, equality must be cherished. Even among equals, some are more equal than others but in Nepal inequality is remarkable due to historical and political-economic conditions Therefore, equity through affirmative action, both remedial and preferential, is a part of the democratic process.

Inclusive democracy

The current degeneration in politics and escalating violence and counter violence in insurgency situation is primarily due to exclusionary, highly centralized, West-Minister model of Parliamentary from of government. What is required in a multi caste/ethnic, language, religion, culture and region is an inclusive democracy, which may incorporate right to self-determination, federalism, ethnic, linguistic and regional autonomy, proportional representation, secularism and gender and language equality/equity. As long as different groups of people feel that they have been excluded, marginalized and ignored it will breed more serious types of violence-counter violence and insurgency. Even in absence of violence, the nature of peace may be negative peace, which ultimately will lead to such problems. Therefore, democracy is not enough; it should be inclusive democracy. Both youth and mass media can and should play a significant role to practice inclusive democracy in Nepal.

Right to self-determination and autonomy

Given the complex and plural social structure of Nepalese society, autonomy should be granted based on three criteria: caste/ethnicity, language and region. 59 Indigenous nationalities have their respective traditional homeland and they should be given ethnic autonomy. Similarly, Hill caste groups, e.g. Khasan, also should be given caste autonomy. In Terai, except indigenous nationalities, autonomy should be given on the basis of language. For example, Maithil autonomous region; Awadhi autonomous region; and Bhojpuri autonomous region. Similarly, Tharus should have Tharuwan autonomous region.

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