Popular Struggles In Nepal And Bolivia

MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY IN NEPAL:

Nepal witnessed an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006. The movement was aimed at restoring democracy. Nepal, was one of the 'third wave' countries that had won democracy in 1990. Although the king formally remained the head of the state, the real power was exercised by popularly elected representatives. King Birendra was killed in a mysterious massacre of the royal family in 2001. King Gyanendra, in February 2005, dismissed the Prime Minister and dissolved the popularly elected Parliament. The movement of April 2006 was aimed at regaining popular control over the government from the king.

EVENTS:

All the major political parties in the parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and called for a four day strike in Kathmandu, the country's capital. The protest soon turned into an indefinite strike in which Maoist insurgents (Communists who believed in the ideology of Mao) and various other organisations joined hands. The security forces found themselves unable to take on more than a lakh people who gathered almost every day and demanded restoration of democracy. The number of protesters reached between three to five lakhs on 21 April and they served an ultimatum to the king. The leaders stuck to their demand for restoration of parliament, power to an all-party government and a new constituent assembly.

OUTCOME:

On 24^th April 2004, the last day of the ultimatum, the king was forced to concede all the three demands. The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new Prime Minister of the interim government. The restored parliament met and passed laws taking away most of the powers of the king. The SPA and the Maoists came to an understanding about how the new Constituent Assembly was going to be elected. The struggle of the Nepali people is a source of inspiration to democrats all over the world.

BOLIVIA’S WATER WAR:

The story of Poland and that of Nepal apply to the struggle for establishing or restoring democracy. But the role of popular struggles does not come to an to end with the establishment of democracy. People’s successful struggle against privatization of water in Bolivia reminds us that popular struggles are integral to the working of democracy.

• Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America.The World Bank pressurized the government to give up its control of municipal water supply.
• The government sold these rights for the city of Cochabamba to a multi-national company (MNC). The company immediately increased the price of water by four times.

• Many people received monthly water bill of Rs 1000 in a country where average income is around Rs 5000 a month. This led to a spontaneous popular protest.
• In January 2000, a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders organized a successful four-day general strike in the city.
• The government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off.
• The police resorted to brutal repression when the agitation was started again in February.
• Another strike followed in April and the government imposed martial law.
• The power of the people forced the officials of the MNC to flee the city and made the government concede to all the demands of the government concede to all the demands of the protesters.
• The contract with the MNC was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rates. This came to be known as Bolivia’s water war.

DEMOCRACY AND POPULAR STRUGGLES:

• Democracy evolves through popular struggles. It is possible that some significant decisions may take place through consensus and may not involve any conflict at all. But that would be an exception. Defining moments of democracy usually involve conflict between those groups who have exercised power and those who aspire for a share in power. These moments come when the country is going through transition to democracy, expansion of democracy or deepening of democracy.
• Democratic conflict is resolved through mass mobilisation. Sometimes it is possible that the conflict is resolved by using the existing institutions like the parliament or the judiciary. But when there is a deep dispute, very often these institutions themselves get involved in the dispute. The resolution has to come from outside, from the people.
• These conflicts and mobilisations are based on new political organisations. True, there is an element of spontaneity in all such historic moments. But the spontaneous public participation becomes effective with the help of organised politics. There can be many agencies of organised politics. These include political parties, pressure groups and movement groups.
• Many people received monthly water bill of Rs 1000 in a country where average income is around Rs 5000 a month. This led to a spontaneous popular protest.
• In January 2000, a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders organized a successful four-day general strike in the city.
• The government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off.
• The police resorted to brutal repression when the agitation was started again in February.
• Another strike followed in April and the government imposed martial law.
• The power of the people forced the officials of the MNC to flee the city and made the government concede to all the demands of the government concede to all the demands of the protesters.
• The contract with the MNC was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rates. This came to be known as Bolivia’s water war.

DEMOCRACY AND POPULAR STRUGGLES:

• Democracy evolves through popular struggles. It is possible that some significant decisions may take place through consensus and may not involve any conflict at all. But that would be an exception. Defining moments of democracy usually involve conflict between those groups who have exercised power and those who aspire for a share in power. These moments come when the country is going through transition to democracy, expansion of democracy or deepening of democracy.
• Democratic conflict is resolved through mass mobilisation. Sometimes it is possible that the conflict is resolved by using the existing institutions like the parliament or the judiciary. But when there is a deep dispute, very often these institutions themselves get involved in the dispute. The resolution has to come from outside, from the people.
• These conflicts and mobilisations are based on new political organisations. True, there is an element of spontaneity in all such historic moments. But the spontaneous public participation becomes effective with the help of organised politics. There can be many agencies of organised politics. These include political parties, pressure groups and movement groups.

Related Topics

• Establishment of Democracy
• Mobilisations and Organisations