Youth, Media and Peace

Dev Raj Dahal

Why educated youths are increasingly alienating themselves from the society of their origin and leaving the rural society virtually on the edge of sterility and stagnation? Why, in an information age, media is unevenly distributed in society like per capita income and majority of Nepalese youths are less informed about the Spirit of the Age and the needs of our nation? Can media mediate between the modern aspiration of Nepalese youth for peace and justice and style of power politics that is gerentocratic, demagogic and clientalistic?

Problem: It is difficult to generalize problems of youth in Nepal due to their differentiated statuses, diverse mode of socialization and transformation from childhood to adulthood. A general mood of disappointment is, however, afflicting Nepali youth due to growing anomie, fear and uncertainty about public life and a loss of a sense of balance between structural conditions of society and the polity.

The crisis socialization of youth by media on a daily basis has induced Nepali youth to succumb to either desperation, or alienation emigration abroad, rebellion or escaping into a kind of media consumerism that tell them nothing of the meanings attributed to what is read. Because of this, a large number of youths have become just apathetic—sitting on the sidelines of national affairs as spectator. The value of alienation and emigration of youth abroad has more to do with personal and family interest than with social and national responsibility The inclination of youth towards consumerism also tends to leave them indifferent to society but more inclined to join the search for more personal identity, wealth and power, able to satisfy all their personal inquisitiveness.

Deprivation of rural youth belonging to the lower economic strata from an equal access to rights, opportunities and outcome for a dignified life contributed, to their withdrawal from creative social participation. It pushed them to leave their place of social origin. The current political crisis has reinforced this tendency, deprived them of recognition, dignity and rights and forced them to move towards unknown destinations. A breakdown of balance in the emotional social and political life has thus pulled bulk of Nepalese youth into agitation, revolt and, at times, irrepressible feelings separating one sets of youths from the other and disabling their collective capacity for national action. Youth can regain the capacity for feeling, towards national life if they are properly informed by the media.

I think Nepalese youths are craving for modernity and contesting the basic values of society that landed them to a phase of national predicament. In this sense- their struggle is emancipatory in nature. It is emancipation from the crude version of power struggle that shuts the youth out and sets a course against their will against their well-being and against their ideals.

Communicative Space: A responsible media can define the national communicative space and create compliance of its youths to civic nationhood. Media frames youth’s perception of belonging and a shared future. A responsible media can re-socialize youth for a culture of peace and reshape the development of a civic political culture that is rational, tolerant and humane- But it can also instill false consciousness and instrumentalize them for narrow partisan purpose. Instrumental rationality tends to drown the voice of reason, public opinion and democratic will-formation.

The stimulation of private interest in education continues to generate an intense process of de-politicization of youth distancing them from national obligations. Especially, costly private education has deprived the lower strata of rural youth from their access to quality education and reduced the job prospect of those trained in public schools, colleges and universities. Similarly, bureaucratization of curriculum and the contents of education have hardly assisted youth to address the context of life-world and link their knowledge to practice. Media continues to debunk this gap and contributes to a sort of cynicism and distrust among youth about the legitimacy of political order When youths relate their knowledge to the working context they find a lack of intergenerational justice. Without social justice in all spheres of life, the culture of durable peace cannot be established. Media has a special responsibility to help youths to restore this justice in the private world, civil society, political parties and the state. It can seek to find ways to engage them in the nation’s social, economic and political construction as a deliberative public.

The fundamental objective of media is to provide youth—both male and female—a comprehensive knowledge of what they are expected to know about positive national values, about politics arid their role as sovereign citizens. Understanding of constitutional principles and skills is important for the practice of good citizenship and instill their trust in the polity. In this sense, media is expected to inculcate in Nepali youth the duty to exercise their basic rights and underline the importance of political action. A good polity rests on the virtues of its citizens. Genuine democratic virtues foster a political action that is non-violent, accommodative, respectful and sensitive towards the voice and visibility of the weak and powerless 13y respecting peaceful dissent, it can prevent the dehumanization of opposition and nurture a project of common good beneficial to all Nepali citizens. In a situation of violent conflict, media can revive the medium of society’s conversation and regenerate Nepali youth’s self-confidence

Discourse. What would be the political response to the structural condition of the Nepalese society? How to open the possibilities for youths to fulfill duties towards the nation as citizens and as human beings? How media can promote skill and will power among Nepali youths to fulfill their obligations? What are the incentives for Nepali youth to be integrated into the boundaries of national culture and inspire them to be committed to the ideal of cosmopolitanism?

I think the discourse today will help furnish critical insights to engage youth in positive and productive business of communities, schools and political process. A genuinely articulated civic praxis for youth, media and peace can reconnect all to societal development, prevent the disease of national pessimism and deadlock and build their confidence to enter into a successful path of character building for good citizenship.

I believe, youth requires continuous nourishment and education so that they can become a part of civil peace work and contribute to the building of modern Nepal. A responsible media can help to liquidate the primitive pre-political instincts and transform the identity of Nepali youths into a deliberative Nepali public. A responsible media dedicated to peace is a powerful tool to empower the lives of youth. (Telegraph/FES)

Intra state armed conflicts in South Asia: Critical Questions

Subha Chandran, INDIA

I. Why intrastate conflicts are more and protracted in South Asia than interstate?

There have been more intrastate conflicts than interstate conflicts at the global level, as has been seen earlier. The same trend was also reflected in South Asia. While there are many reasons for this trend, the following are crucial.

Problems of Nation Building

First, invariably every state in South Asia is still in the process of nation building. The process of nation building is complex and is burdened with the presence of numerous actors with different demands and grievances - real and imagined. The state invariably in the whole of South Asia, unfortunately considered themselves as successors of the British India, perceived these demands as threats to its legitimacy and instead of addressing them attempted state building rather than nation building. Instead of co-opting the various groups into its fold in the nation building process, the state alienated them through confrontation. As William Zartman has phrased it eloquently that the internal conflicts emerges due to the "inability or unwillingness of the government to handle grievances to the satisfaction of the aggrieved; that is they begin with the breakdown of normal politics."

Multiple Actors with Diverse Objectives

Second, unlike in interstate conflicts, in most cases, there are more than two actors in any intrastate conflict. An agreement between two state actors engaged in an interstate conflict is likely to be resolved sooner, where the stakes are high. In an intrastate conflict, besides the state, there are other actors, which are both political and militant. In the case of India, even the state is reflected in two entities - the federating unit and the federation. The case of Jammu and Kashmir is a classic example of this. The ‘state’ is represented by the Union government and the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The governments in New Delhi and Srinagar at times had different objectives. The difference between these two has been reflected in so many cases. For example, in 2000, the State legislative assembly passed a resolution in June 2000 demanding more autonomy to the state. Though Atal Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India commented that the resolution was within the framework of the Indian Constitution, it was rejected in the subsequent Cabinet meeting.

Besides the differences between the state actors, non-state actors are divided. In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, besides the mainstream political parties, there are other actors including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and the militant groups. The Hurriyat is vertically divided into two factions after the split in 2003. The two factions are now being led by Syed All Geelani and Moulvi Omar Farooq. The militant groups are also equally divided and there are three main groups - Lashkar-eToiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Problems of Deweaponizing and Demilitarizing

Third, the problems of the state and society in de-weaponizing and demilitarizing create an uncertainty factor about the post conflict situation and opportunities amongst the non-state actors. In an interstate-armed conflict, the actors get back to their pre-conflict situation without disbanding and disarming, with their personal and economic security stable and safe. Unfortunately, in an intrastate conflict where there are non state actors involved, the problems of integrating them with the main stream starts with an element of disarming and disbanding, leading to create a fear of insecurity among them.

In South Asia, there are numerous cases in which an initial agreement with a non-state actor failed to materialize, due to this factor. One of the reasons for the government of’ Pakistan failing to reach an agreement with the militants in South Waziristan has been over disarming and disbanding. Even in Sri Lanka, disarming was one of the main reasons for the LTTE resume fighting after the July 1987 agreement between India and Pakistan.

Besides, there are severe problems in dealing with the surrendered militants and this issue is acute in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. In Assam, a section of surrendered cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) are called "Surrendered ULFA (SULFA)." There are nearly 7000 SULFA members in Assam, and the government is yet to come out with a comprehensive package to deal with them.

The SULFA "control the coal and transport syndicates, have indulged in large-scale extortion and intimidation, and usurped government tenders. Most of them have not cared to refund their bank loans... It is alleged that the SULFA cadres played an important part in the former Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government’s ‘secret killings’ policy to eliminate the relatives of the ULFA leadership, but they have proved to be a real menace now in the State." Even amongst the state security forces, there are differences over whether the SULFA needs to be completely disarmed and disbanded.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the surrendered militants known as Ikhwans are today seen as a liability. According to a news report, "local residents view them (the Ikhwans) with deep suspicion - some even with contempt - for switching sides. Mainstream parties sneer at their recent attempts into electoral politics. Even the Army admits their limited use." There were also reports accusing the Ikhwans aiding in finding new infiltration routes even after being appointed as the Special Police Officers within J&K police.

There was no standard policy towards Ikhwans in Kashmir. There are around 3000 Ikhwans, being paid by the different security forces including the Army, BSF and J&K Police. The Army used to pay a monthly salary of Rs 3000 along with Rs 5 lakh insurance, while the J&K police used to pay Rs. 1500 per month. There was an attempt in December 2003 to convert these Ikhwans into a full-fledged Territorial Army battalion. Most of the Ikhwans were incorporated into the J&K’s Special Operations Group (SOG), which was disbanded after Mufti Sayeed became the Chief Minister of the state. On the other hand Mufti has also been advocating for a rehabilitation package for the surrendered militants, which would be entirely funded by the Union government.

(IFA/FES)

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