We had to do something

Confusion, fear, anger were feelings that went through the veins of many people in the days after the violent incidents in Kapilbastu mid February 2005. What happened to the lives of the tens of thousands of villagers who were displaced from their homes, the people from the hundreds of houses which were burnt down, and the remaining family members of the forty-six people who got killed?

At Radio Lumbini we were shocked and concerned by the incidents at our neighbours, and worried if this would set new standards for an already violent and escalating conflict. In order not just sit and watch as if nothing had happened, we decided to express solidarity with the affected people and collect relief funds, arranging a solidarity concert in Butwal on June 4.

Sometimes words alone can not entirely express the state of mind and the feelings inside. Music and other art forms, however, in these situations are creative means for human expression on more subtle and delicate issues. Also taking into account the very sensitive situation at the time, we had to be very careful how to deliver our message and assure not to provoke either side of the conflicting parties.

We found a music concert as an appropriate way of expression to create a room for solidarity and joy outside space and time where new inspirations and ideas could be shared without censorship, concern or restrictions.

Through good contacts and help from Hits FM in Kathmandu we were able to manage national popular singers to come and perform free of charge. Also local bands and singers willingly supported our idea. Totally, we managed to sell 1,288 tickets and collect NRS 136,498. The presence of the star singers from Kathmandu we could also utilize for interviews and phone-in’s at the radio to put spotlight on the issue. Obviously, the concert itself was broadcasted live on the radio.

 

After the concert and an assessment of the situation in Kapilbastu, we have decided to provide scholarships for children from the conflict affected areas of the February 2005 violent incidents. The scholarships for the children will be provided over a period of five years through two schools: Bal Shiksha Primary School in Hallanagar and Bhubanishwori Secondary School in Jagdishpur. After five years we will reassess the situation. Hopefully, at that time there will be no need to support conflict affected children in Kapilbastu.

The article is written for AMARC.

The challenging encounter with “the other”

When people from different cultures and backgrounds meet, the encounter is always challenging for the people involved as many different thoughts and feelings pass through the intellect, such as: trust/distrust, suspicion/curiosity, pleasure/disgrace, feelings of superiority or inferiority, and so forth.

No matter language, ethnic group or geographical location, the challenges for the people involved in an encounter with “the other” is felt and experienced inside. However, the outside reaction to the encounter varies from people to people, from culture to culture. In world history we have seen many different responses how to deal with “the other”: building walls, through diplomacy, starting wars, trade relations, colonisation, exploitation, surveillance systems, alliances, altruism, etcetera. Also systematic suppression though a social and religious system, like the caste systems in India and Nepal, is one example of a system made to classify “the other”.

As the world increasingly is becoming globalized, so is the understanding and recognition increasingly that higher walls, strict surveillance, suppression, or killings of “the other” is not a lasting solution and an appropriate recipe. Quite the opposite – and increasingly important is the need to understand “the other” through compassion and empathy. Information and sharing of different values, ideas and dreams are all important ingredients and needed for the creation of a common platform where all can meet no matter social, cultural, ethnic or religious background.

As elsewhere in Nepal, many of the so called lower caste people, the Dalits for example, are suppressed by so called higher caste people in the coverage area of Radio Lumbini. To mitigate the negative outcomes such suppression might generate in a society, Radio Lumbini in January hosted a conference on “Dalits representation in the media”, and invited two Dalit intellectuals to present a paper on the issue. Community reporters and listener club representatives were also invited for the seminar.

It was a very inspirering but also emotional seminar and the waves were sometimes very high. After a stimulating introduction to the subject by the two intellectuals on how they perceive Dalits representation in the media, the seminar opened space for a discussion between the panel and the participants. One of the Dalit presenters expressed his opinion: “why do [so called, red.] high caste people treat foreigners more human than the Dalits?” The response from one of the participants was that the Dalits should not claim anyone as racists as they themselves also have discriminatory practices.

Discussions like this moved back and forth between the panel and the participants, and I sometimes had the feeling we were at the limits of what we could manage and opening a Pandora box we not easily could close again; there are no easy and single answers to these very difficult issues. During the debate I constantly had a stressed feeling in my solar plexus, which also underlines the very emotional nature of the debate. My colleagues, fortunately, successfully managed to safely land the discussions again, and we all left the seminar as friends.

Without any doubts, seminars of this nature help people to broaden their horizon and assist in developing empathy and compassion for “the other”. No arms can deal with these very subtle issues, nor can they address the root causes of any conflict. These can only be dealt with though accuracy, empathy and compassion. Besides the issue of discrimination of so called low caste people, Nepal has many other pending issues which can be dealt with in a modality similar to the described. The participation in the seminar showed great eagerness to peacefully and through dialogue searching for answers to some of the many sensitive issues waiting to be resolved, to again making Nepal a peaceful and prosperous country.

In an increasingly polarised conflict, automatically a middle path is created in which moderate, democratic and peaceful interests can meet. Radio Lumbini showed with the seminar such a path to walk.

The article is written for Radio Lumbini's Annual Assembly Magazine.

Maoist greeting

Just outside my office, in the small village Manigram on the highway between Bhairahawa and Butwal, this Maoist banner has been for quite some days.

"On the auspicious occasion of our great people's war, completing 10 years and entering the 11th year, we welcome and salute all our national patriots and well wishers." Nepal Communist Party, Maoists

Solidarity with Kapilbastu concert

Confusion, fear, distrust, anger, hopelessness were feelings that went through the veins of many people in the days after the violent incidents in Kapilbastu mid February. What happened to the lives of the tens of thousands of villagers who were displaced from their homes, the people from the hundreds of houses which were burnt down, and the remaining family members of the forty-six people who got killed? Many did probably also ask themselves whether these incidents would set new standards for an already violent and escalating conflict, or if it was a one-time incident.

At Radio Lumbini we were also shocked and concerned by the incidents at our neighbours and conversations with members from our listeners clubs showed they also were anxious. We experienced, though, it was difficult to express the reactions to the incidents and many were left with a “ke garne?” to the very uncertain situation. The overall reaction, however, was that we could not continue as if nothing had happened. We had to do something.

To make a coordinated and joint effort in support and solidarity with our neighbours in Kapilbastu, Radio Lumbini decided to invite their listeners clubs to a seminar to discuss how to express and show solidarity with the people of Kapilbastu. At the meeting we decided to organise a solidarity musical open air concert on June 4th where a variety of local and national known musicians would perform and express their solidarity. Music and art is sometimes useful when words alone become meaningless or difficult to express.

The concert had two main objectives; to promote the notion of solidarity, and to raise funds for the affected people of the violent incidents in Kapilbastu.

Through contacts in Kathmandu we got in touch with well-known bands and singers. Most expressed a positive attitude and support for the idea and so did local musicians. The encounters with the artists were very encouraging and helped us to believe our idea was possible to materialise.

In Butwal and Bhairahawa we started to look for sponsorships to cover our investments for the concert - not an easy task in times where many businesses strive to make their own survival. MS made a generous contribution and a local offset company kindly printed 3,000 tickets, charging only the cost of the paper. The sale of tickets turned out to be very challenging, but applying different strategies such as “push sell” and support from the police in selling our tickets, we managed to sell 1,127 tickets. June 4th was slowly but surely approaching and we became increasingly ready to receive our five star-singers from Kathmandu and the audience.

On the day of the concert tension was high. In the short history of Radio Lumbini this surely was the first time we had organised such big an event. Were we able to manage?

In the morning our guest stars from Kathmandu went live in the radio, allowing fans and listeners to call in and ask questions. They seemed to enjoy attending their local fans, happily answering all kinds of questions and explaining their reason for their visit.

Later at 3:30 PM the concert was due to start and with some delay the first artist was ready to go on stage. A light blue and white striped tent was placed on stage as protection for sun and rain and our banner “Solidarity Musical Programme” turned the stage into a beautiful scene. However, as strong winds started to set in we had to remove the tent again - it became a truly open air concert. Eleven bands and singers performed everything from folk music to heavy metal, and the audience looked like they were enjoying it; allowing themselves to flow with the music.

Radio Lumbini seemed to successfully have created a room for solidarity and joy where people willingly entered - a room outside space and time where new inspiration and ideas could enter without censorship, concern or restrictions.

You can’t see it, if you don’t know it

There is a Danish proverb saying: you can’t see it, if you don’t know it, which applies well to the current critical situation in Nepal. Although intensified clashes between the Maoists and the army in the country, the day to day situation many places appear quite normal and peaceful. But if you listen carefully you can hear there is a difference in the soundscape.

Before the king’s royal coup on February 1st, I used to wake up at six o’clock in the morning to the characteristic jingle of Communication Corner’s news program; in a Nepali milieu, an innovative and very popular news service listened to by almost everyone. In my neighbourhood, most people had their first Nepali tea to this program while news from in- and outside the country was presented. Nowadays, my mornings are quieter; the king’s decision only to allow entertainment to be broadcasted, has set on pause this program as well as any independent radio news program for the time being. No one seems to like listening to entertainment, why almost no FM radios in my neighbourhood are playing these days. Compared to before Feb. 1st, it is believed that less than one quarter today listens to FM radio in this region, although this number not is verified.

New communication patterns

The only FM radio news alternative left is the propaganda service from the king’s mouthpiece: Radio Nepal. People with money and eager to listen to other suppliers of news have the option to buy shortwave radio, and BBC Nepali news service has become a very popular source of information for particularly educated people in urban areas. Purchase of shortwave radios has boomed in Nepal in recent weeks and this tendency seems to continue. However, the large majority of Nepalese: farmers, truck drives, shop keepers, housewives and so forth do not seem to utilize this option, and are, in terms of access to radio news, left with Radio Nepal. Television is likewise controlled by the king, and for many Nepalese are newspapers no alternative due to high levels of illiteracy.

The outcome two months after the royal move is that most people are paralysed and you can start to hear the first effects: rumours. Expressing truth can sometimes become very dangerous in times of censorship, why rumours easy can flourish. Some more fantastic and incredible than others prosper all over, and it is difficult for people to get a true and ample picture of their situation, seen in a larger perspective. People with interests to lit fire to an already fragile situation or with the intention to exaggerate stories with postulates, can easily do so as there is little or no possibility to verify, compare or deny stories.

Community radios affected

In the communities, the role to monitor and reflect the flow of rumours and stories was set to be the community radios. After the introduction of democracy in Nepal in 1990, started numbers of free and innovative media, including community radios, which became a popular media to bring the mushrooming social initiatives at a grassroots level into a public discourse.

A small village close to India in the Terai region of Nepal, Manigram, also rode on the wave of free media, and in 1999 a group of innovative people in the village decided to form a cooperative in order to establish their own community radio – Radio Lumbini – named after Lord Buddha’s birthplace nearby. To a large extent, has the radio succeeded to reflect the different social activities in the communities in its programmes and deeds, but the censorship imposed by the king has put constrains on the radio. A usual active news department converted into an almost deserted room sadly witnesses this fact, just as the sale of radio commercials has decreased to one sixth of previous times. It is not unlikely Radio Lumbini has to reduce its staff in near future, as have many other radio stations all over Nepal.

It is difficult to predict for how long the current state of limbo will continue in Nepal and for how long Radio Lumbini can continue as a source only for entertainment. A new entertainment program is scheduled to be launched to adjust their programs to the current situation, radio drama, where entertainment creatively can be woven into social and political issues. Likewise, more interactions with the listeners will provide guidelines and inspiration as to how Radio Lumbini can keep providing services to its audience. But besides these proactive initiatives, Radio Lumbini’s strategy in the current situation is to wait and see, safeguard within the organisation the values of democracy and freedom of speech, and slowly expand their boundary for expression. Time will tell how slowly and for how long.

The article was published in Radio Lumbini's Annual Assembly Magazine.