Telescope team plans to track the whole sky

A European project that will allow astrophysical events to be tracked across the whole sky for the first time has begun

Testbed: the KAT-7 telescopes in South Africa

and is already recruiting its personnel. Funded with €3m from the European Research Council over the next five years, the 4 Pi Sky project will use a combination of ground- and space-based telescopes to study rare events such as colliding neutron stars and exploding supernovae.

4 Pi Sky combines three separate terrestrial telescopes systems. One is the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), consisting of some 10,000 dipole antennas across Europe, that will be used to track objects at a frequency range of about 30–240 MHz. The others are the MeerKAT array in South Africa and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in Western Australia, which will be used to track phenomena at higher frequencies of about 1 GHz.

Linking telescopes

When combined, the telescopes will be able to monitor the whole sky, as scientists will be able to link from telescope to telescope to follow transient phenomena as the Earth rotates. Using this technique, researchers are expected to find and track thousands of new events that would have previously been missed.

“This is really a project that will try and co-ordinate what we can do with these telescopes in terms of optimizing their performance and getting the software up and running,” says Rob Fender, an astronomer at the University of Southampton in the UK, who is leader of the 4 Pi Sky project. He adds that it will take at least another three years until all three telescopes come online and are fully networked due to the construction timelines for MeerKAT and ASKA. Part of the network, however, will be working on LOFAR this year.

The Tango of Ego and Soul

Dr. Judith Rich, Speaker, trainer, writer, coach, creator of Rx For The Soul: www.judithrich.com

Our lives unfold between the shores of the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious mind, when unexamined, reflects the agenda of the Ego, and concerns itself with matters of survival. It experiences and interprets events through the lens of its limiting perceptions; mainly, fear, and attempts to exert its power and influence through the use of the Will, the Ego’s instrument.

When the conscious or objective mind is in service to the Ego it is concerned with appearances, safety, comfort and maintaining the illusion of control. The Ego-driven mind wants to know: “How do I look? What will others think of me? Am I right? Am I loved/ good enough? Am I safe? Am I in control? How can I avoid pain?”

On a distant shore in a faraway land, the unconscious or subjective mind resides. Both personal and impersonal agenda take up residency there. The subjective mind houses our personally repressed memories as well as the transpersonal agenda of the universe. One could say the entire universe is housed within each one of us and it is only a dream, insight, reflection or imagination away!

NEUROSCIENCE CASES: THE MAN WHO COULD NOT FORGET

How many times have you been sat revising for an exam wishing that you had the power of a perfect instantaneous memory? Well, for a tiny number of people that isn’t just a pipe dream. Known as mnemonists these individuals have unfathomable memories and data recall. This is the story of one of the first properly studied, and most interesting cases, Solomon Shereshevskii.

Born in Russia in 1886 to a Jewish family Shereshevskii, or simply ‘S’ as he is sometimes referred in literature externally appeared to lead a normal life. As an adult, after failing as a musician he embarked on a career as a journalist. It wasn’t till a chance meeting with the Neuropsychologist Alexander Luria (one of the founding fathers of the discipline) that his gift became apparent.

Alexander Luria

Shereshesvkii was reporting on a talk given by Luria. At one point Luria looked around the room and noticed that, unlike all the rest of the journalists, there was an individual not taking any notes. Luria confronted Shereshesvkii asking why he was not taking notes, at this point Shereshesvkii recited his entire talk back to word for word. Luria was stunned, as was Shereshesvkii who at this point had never realised that no one else had his perfect recall. This began a friendship and research partnership that lasted many years, with Luria conducting many studies into what might be the cause of his incredible abilities.

Sri Lanka Rising Star Of Asian Economy

“Which country had the best performing market in 2010? Fox News asked in a special report on Sri Lanka. ‘Guess what? It was not the United States of America! The best performing stock market was Sri Lanka’s CSE which was up 96% for the year’,” they said, the Sri Lanka government website said Wednesday.

The government article noted that Fox News called Sri Lanka ‘the rising star of the Asian economy’, adding that Sri Lanka has demonstrated economic resilience amid a global economic downturn, emerging as a success story for others to emulate.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has now returned to peace and prosperity, the report said adding that the government has devoted millions of dollars to develop and restore life in the areas affected by the decades-long conflict.

ढुंगे युगमा बाँचेर ब्रायन सुन्नुपर्दा

एडम्सले जसरी दुई घण्टा गाएर प्रशस्त अर्थ कुम्ल्याएर गए उनीभन्दा जीन्दगीभर गाएर पनि आर्थिक अभावले समयमा उपचार समेत नपाई मर्ने नेपाली गायकहरु कता हो कता महान् छन् । आफ्नै बगैंचामा फुलेका फूललाई पहिले माया गर्न सिकौं । त्यसपछि मात्र विदेशका फूललाई महत्व दिऔं ।

By राज श्रेष्ठ, कीर्तिपुर

अभूतपूर्व प्रचारका साथ काठमाडौं अवतरण भएका क्यानेडियन रक् गायक ब्रायन एडम्सप्रति मेरो खासै रुचि जागेन । कार्यालय आउँदा जाँदा सँधै आँखा गइरहने त्रिपुरेश्वर वल्र्ड ट्रेड सेन्टरको ठीक सामुन्ने रहेको एडम्सको गितार बजाउँदै गरेको बडेमानको तस्वीरले पनि म जस्ता युवालाई खासै आकर्षित गर्न सकिरहेको थिएन । किन हो कुन्नि मनभित्र एउटा मौन आवाज गुन्जी नै रह्यो – यी सब मेरा लागि कत्ति पनि होइनन् । मेरो प्राथमिकताभित्र एडम्स् अझै परेका छैनन् । दैनिक १६ घण्टाको लोड्सेडिङ्ले गाँजेको दिनचर्या छ । बिहान ५ बजे निद्रा खुल्छ । अझै देख्न सकिने गरी उज्यालो भइसकेको छैन ।

मोबाइलको ब्याक्लाइटको मद्दतले ढोकामा टाँसिएको लोड्सेडिङ्को तालिका हेर्छु । बिहान ८ बजे मात्र बत्ती आउँछ । आफूलाई बिहानको ८ बजी सक्दा नसक्दै कार्यालय जान चटारो परिसकेको हुन्छ । हतारहतार गाँस टिपी गन्तब्यतिर नलाग्ने हो भने स्टाफबस भेटिँदैन र लोकलबसको कष्टकर यात्रा सम्झिँदा पनि आङ्ग सिरिङ्ग हुन्छ । कार्यालय समयमा समुह ६ को तालिका अनुसार दिउँसो ३ बजेमात्र बिजुली आउँछ । कार्यालयबाट घर फर्किदा साँझ अन्धकारकै बास हुन्छ । राती कतिखेर बिजुली आउँछ र जान्छ दिउँसो कतिखेर आउँछ सम्झना राख्नुपनि दुष्कर हुँदैछ । बिस्तारै ढुङ्गे युगतिर गइरहेको जीवनशैलीमा एडम्स् मेरालागि सपनामात्र हुँदा हुन् ।

Images and sacred texts Buddhism across Asia

14 October 2010 –

Figure of the Buddha Amida seated on a lotus pedestal, made of lacquered and gilded wood. From Dairenji Temple, Osaka, Japan, mid 18th century.

3 April 2011

Free
Room 91

Through sacred texts, painted scrolls and sculptures from Sri Lanka to Japan, discover the shared traditions of Buddhism – the ‘three gems’.

The exhibition features depictions of the ‘three gems’ from across Asia. The ‘three gems’ consist of the Buddha himself, his teachings (dharma), and the Buddhist community (sangha). Despite regional variations, the ‘three gems’ show remarkable similarities, sometimes across hundreds of years.

Objects featured in the exhibition include exquisite gold sculptures and paintings of the Buddha, beautiful Buddhist texts on palm leaf and paper, and a selection of images of Buddhist monks.

The objects come from across the whole of Asia, including India, China, Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea and Japan. The earliest objects are from the 1st–2nd century AD, and the latest date to the 20th century.

Many of these objects have never been on display before, making this is a unique opportunity to view rarely-seen items from the British Museum’s collection. Due to the fragility of the paintings and texts, some items in the display will be changed after three months, halfway through the exhibition run.

This exhibition provides an insight into the key elements which hold the Buddhist world together in Asia and, now that Buddhism is a worldwide faith, across the world as a whole.

The little Nepal in Aldershot

By Iain Hollingshead

Outside McDonald’s in Aldershot, Hampshire, “the home of the British Army”, the scene is more redolent of a street in

the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. Two elderly women no taller than 4ft shuffle silently down the road, their thin shoulders covered by colourful blankets. Behind them a group of equally wizened men sporting a curious combination of Dhaka topis (a traditional Nepalese hat), and Puffa jackets, greet each other with smiles and cries of “Namaste”, their

hands pressed together, their heads slightly bowed.

Nearby, Dave Chamberlain, is cranking up his sales patter on the “Five-a-day” grocery stall. “Susti, susti,” he calls out in Nepali. “Cheap cheap.” As a Nepalese woman approaches, he jokingly puts an empty basket on her head; she retaliates by punching him playfully on the arm.

“We love the Nepalese,” says Chamberlain. “They have great banter, they’re really patriotic and they buy a lot of tomatoes. They’re proper hagglers, and they don’t always understand the concept of queuing. But still, we have a great laugh.”

Not everyone in Aldershot is so relaxed about the arrival of Nepalese following the 2009 campaign led by the actress Joanna Lumley. After memorably ambushing Phil Woolas, the then immigration minister, in a television studio, Miss Lumley’s intervention was a key factor in forcing the government into abandoning rules that prevented members of the Gurkha Brigade who’d retired before 1997 settling in Britain.

Scientists working on thought-controlled vehicles

We covered a news story last week about how scientists have being working on techniques to power wheel chairs and prosthetic limbs using the power of thought. But a team of researchers at a German university are taking this one step further by developing technology that enables you to power a vehicle instead.

The project is known as BrainDriver and so far they have been able to control a car’s standard functions, such as braking, steering and throttle control using the power of the mind. Interestingly they originally used eye-tracking as a possible interface to BrainDriver which was based on existing iPad and iPhone technology.

In order for the car to be controlled the researchers had to first start off by recording brain activity using a neuroheadset – a device which was originally intended for gaming. The user then goes through several training cycles to record brain functions and reactions which can then be used by BrainDriver to power the Volkswagen Passat test vehicle.

Man with 39 Wives

By ANTONELLA LAZZERI

The “Chanas” at No9 comprises 181 members – and none of them is on benefits.

Dad Ziona has 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren – all living together under one roof.

Believed to be the biggest family in the world, home is a huge, 100-room, four-storey house where they sleep in dormitories.

And even then they have to go top-to-tail to fit.

Handily, head of the family, Ziona, 67, also runs his own sect – which allows multiple marriage.

He says he feels blessed to have so many of his brood living with him, adding: “Today I feel like God’s special child.

“He’s given me so many people to look after.

“I consider myself a lucky man to be the husband of 39 women and head of the largest family.”

All the men of the family work as carpenters and Ziona says proudly: “We don’t want any help from the government.”

The super-dad once married ten women in a year.

‘Have you finished in the bathroom yet?’ … the Chana house with its 100 rooms dominates the village

Richard Grange / Barcroft India

Italian Internet gurus claim credit for Mideast revolutions

A Tunis meeting prepared the groundwork for more modern communications.

Philip Willan (IDG News Service)

The Internet has played a crucial role in the popular revolts that have inflamed the Middle East and Italian communications experts claim they contributed significantly when they launched an appeal for an Internet Bill of Rights at the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis several years ago.

The wave of popular rebellions that have shaken undemocratic Arab regimes from Cairo to Bahrain and Tripoli began in Tunisia in mid-December after a street vendor vented his anger at the police by setting himself on fire.News of Mohamed Bouazizi’s dramatic gesture was spread by the country’s estimated 2 million Facebook users, while WikiLeaks’ publication of U.S. diplomatic cables detailing the corruption of the ruling family added to popular resentment of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Internet-based social networks have been vital in summoning protesters to public demonstrations, but Italian analysts say the Internet has been even more important for the way it has fostered popular anger and a desire for freedom.”The net has been fundamental for the gradual creation of a public consciousness that paved the way for the revolt,” said Alessandro Gilioli, author of “The Enemies of the Net,” a new book about the obstacles to the development of Internet in Italy.

Culture: GUPHA-caving girls under 12 for 12 days

Normally Newar girls are married thrice in their lives. The first marriage is called Ihi or Bel bibaha”. It is performed

Puja's Gupha program in Ashford, Kent, UK

when a girl reaches her 7th year. She is married to bel “apple fruit” as it signifies immortality. And then they are married to the Sun which is called “Bara Tayegu” (Newari) or “Gufa Rakhne” (Nepali). When they get into human conjugal relationship its actually their marriage. These marriage ceremonies are conducted both among Buddhist Newars and Hindu Newars.

Bara Tayegu:
It is conducted before girls strait menstruation. Girls in a group or alone are kept in a room with windows draped with thick clothes and door always locked so that not a single ray of sun can enter the room. She can’t see boys nor hear their voice. Twelve days- she lives a solitary life as if she were a prisoner in solitary consignment. This is how we or I, not belonging to newar clan think or may think. But for Newars it’s a time for celebration. A step taken by woman towards her womanhood.

Bel Bibaha – Securing a Woman’s Future

India Sliding, China Rising In Maoist Nepal

by Dipin Damodharan

Early this month, after 17 endeavors to name a prime minister, Nepal, the Himalayan nation, has selected P Jhalnath Khanal for the post. This has put an end to the political impasse in the old Hindu nation.

But things are not looking to be good for India. After a gap, again a Maoist backed- government got a hold on this culturally affluent land and obviously this happens to be an annoyance for India.

Though there exists some kind of anti-India feeling in Nepal, the present startling revelation that China plays hard to form an anti-India government in Nepal, positions the picture clear.

According to a recently released 12-minute tape, a Chinese official offers $6.9 million to bribe 50 Nepali legislators for help in forming a Maoist-led government that would favor China over India.

The Maoist axis – China and now Nepal- try to put India in the corner.

Actually Nepal has been deeply influenced by India. Four million Nepalese (Nepal citizens) labor in India. Both countries have common traditions and cultural legacy to share. But the deadly Maoist movement under the Chinese guidance has made the Indo-Nepal relations so weak. The Maoist never intended to make friendly ties with India.

विगतको समीक्षा गर्ने बेला भयो

दीपक गजुरेल

माओवादी र एमाले मिलेर एमालेका अध्यक्षलाई प्रधानमन्त्री निर्वाचित गरे । दुई वाम पार्टी मिलेर अन्य ’प्रजातान्त्रिक’ दलहरुलाई पाखा लगाउने रणनीतिबनाएका हुन्‍ कि, वा वाम ध्रूवीकरण गर्न लागिएको हो कि भन्ने आशंका एकथरीबाट आएको छ । यो संभावित वाम गठबन्धन विरुद्ध प्रजातान्त्रिक दलहरु एकजुट हुन खोजेको देखिन्छ । यही क्रममा, काँग्रेस, मधेसी, राप्रपा लगायतका दलहरुको ’प्रजातान्त्रिक’ गठबन्धन निर्माण गर्ने र त्यस मार्फत माओवादी र एमालेको संभावित ’वाम गठबन्धन’ विरुद्ध उभिने रणनीति अघि बढाइएको छ ।

यससंगै, माओवादी र एमाले अध्यक्षबीच भएको सात बुँदे सहमतिका प्रावधानलाई लिएर यी दुई विपरित ध्रूवमा उभिन पुगेका छन्‍ । फलस्वरुप,प्रधानमन्त्रीले सरकार निर्माण गर्न सकेका छैनन्‍ र यो गठबन्धन नै धरापमा परेको आशंका पनि उठेको छ । सात बुँदे सहमतिलाई ’लोकतन्त्रका लागि खतरा’ भनिएको छ, ‘प्रजातान्त्रिक’ दलका नेताहरुबाट । माओवादीको नियतमाथि प्रजातान्त्रिकहरुले प्रश्न उठाएका छन्‍ । माओवादीको नियत र उसको रणनीतिप्रति शंका गर्नेहरुले एउटा महत्वपूर्ण पक्ष चाहिँ लुकाएका छन्‍, जानाजान । माओवादीले ’प्रजातान्त्रिक, संसदीय प्रणाली’ कहिल्यै पनि स्वीकार गरेको थिएन र छैन । भारतको निर्देशनमा दिल्लीमा गराइएको १२ बुँदे सहमतिमा पनि माओवादीले बहुलवादी प्रजातान्त्रिक शासन प्रणाली स्वीकार गरेको थिएन ।

ब्रेन एट्याक तुरुन्त उपचारले निको हुन्छ

काठमाडौ, फाल्गुन ७ – उपत्यकामा दिनहुँ करिब ३० भन्दा बढी ब्रेन एट्याकका रोगी अस्पताल पुग्छन् । मुलुकमा नशासम्बन्धी रोगीहरूमध्ये ५० प्रतिशत ब्रेन एट्याकका रोगी छन् । छिट्टै चिकित्सा सुविधा उपलब्ध भयो भने ब्रेन एट्याकको रोगी तीव्र गतिले स्वस्थ हुन्छन् । तर जनचेतनाको अभावमा मस्तिष्कघातका अधिकांश रोगी १२ घन्टाको पर्खाइपछि अस्पतालमा पुग्ने गरेका छन् । रोगग्रस्त आधाजति अस्पताल पुग्दैनन् । नेपाली समाजमा मस्तिष्कघातलाई सुरुदेखि नै उपचार नहुने रोग सम्झिने गरिएको छ । यस्तै यो रोग उमेर पुगेकाहरूलाई मात्र हुने मान्यतासमेत विद्यमान छ । ढिलो उपचार सेवा लिनु पछाडिका यी सामान्य कारणहरू हुन् । ‘जनजिब्रोमा बसेको पक्षाघात/लकवालाई ब्रेन एट्याकको रूपमा लिएर आकस्मिक चिकित्सा सेवा लिने शिक्षा दिनु अत्यावश्यक छ,’ वरिष्ठ स्नायु शल्य चिकित्सक डा.वसन्त पन्त भन्छन्, ‘पक्षाघातको लक्षण देखिन थाल्नेदेखि आकस्मिक कक्ष पुग्दासम्मको समय जति कम गर्‍यो त्यति राम्रो ।’ अन्नपूणर्ा न्युरोलोजिकल इन्स्िटच्युटमा दिनहुँ दुई ब्रेन एट्याकका रोगी पुग्ने गरेका छन् । त्रिवि शिक्षण अस्पताल महाराजगन्जको मेडिसन विभागमा हुने कुल भर्नाको ३ प्रतिशत ब्रेन एट्याकका रोगी छन् ।

Credit the Egyptian People for the Egyptian Revolution

By Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and Chair of Mid-Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco

While there will undoubtedly have to be additional popular struggle in Egypt to ensure that the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak leads to real democracy, the ouster of the dictator is by any measure a major triumph for the Egyptian people and yet another example of the power of nonviolent action. Indeed, Egypt joins such diverse countries as the Philippines, Poland, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Nepal, Serbia, Bolivia, Indonesia, and others whose authoritarian regimes were replaced by democratic governance as a result of such unarmed civil insurrections.

Unfortunately, there are already those who are trying to put the credit (or blame) for the Egyptian Revolution on anybody but the literally millions of ordinary Egyptians — men and women, Christian and Muslim, young and old, workers and intellectuals, poor and middle class, secular and religious — who faced down the truncheons, tear gas, water cannons, bullets and goon squads for their freedom.

It was not the military that was responsible for Mubarak’s downfall. While some top army officers belatedly eased Mubarak aside on February 11, it was more of a coup de grace and than a coup d’état. It was clear to the military brass, watching the popular reaction following his nonresignation speech the previous day, who recognized that if they did not ease him out, they would be taken down with him. The army’s refusal to engage in a Tienanmen Square-style massacre in Tahrir Square came not because the generals were on the protesters’ side — indeed, they had long been the bedrock of Mubarak’s regime — but because they could not trust their own soldiers, disproportionately from the poor and disenfranchised sectors of society, to obey orders to fire on their own people.

It was not the United States, long the primary foreign backer of the Mubarak regime. The Obama administration played catch-up for most of the 18-day uprising, initially calling only for reforms within the regime. To Obama’s credit, he did push for an end to attacks on protesters and the shutting down of the Internet, and reportedly threatened a cutoff of military aid and strategic cooperation if US weapons were used in a massacre or other major repression. Though Obama eventually called for a speedy transition to democracy, however, he never explicitly called on Mubarak to step down. His strongest and most eloquent words in support for the pro-democracy struggle came only after Mubarak’s departure, giving a sense that it came more from a desire to not be on the wrong side of history than his desire to play the role as a catalyst.

Some US Embassy staffers had sporadic contacts with pro-democracy activists in recent years and, through such Congressionally-funded foundations as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), there was some limited financial assistance to a number of civil society organizations. This small amount of US “democracy” assistance did not include any support for training in strategic nonviolent action or other kinds of grassroots mobilization that proved decisive in the struggle, and the key groups that organized the protests resisted US funding on principle. In any case, the amount of US funding for NED and related programs in Egypt paled in comparison with the billions of dollars worth of military and economic assistance to the Mubarak regime and the close and regular interaction among US officials and leading Egyptian political and military leaders. In addition, most of this limited “pro-democracy” funding was eliminated altogether a couple of years ago, following Obama’s inauguration.

Nor was it the Internet. Social media helped expose the abuses of the regime and get around censorship prior to the uprising and, during the revolt, at times helped with tactical coordination for the protests. It is important to note, however, that less than 15 percent of the Egyptian population had access to the Internet (mostly through cafes heavily policed by the regime) and, for a number of key days early in the struggle, it was shut down completely. (Ironically, it may have helped the movement in some cases, as a number of residents in Cairo, Alexandria, and other cities decided to come out onto the streets to see what was happening first hand since they could not learn from the Internet.) While, on balance, the Internet was certainly helpful, it was probably not necessary for the movement’s success. The Eastern European revolutions of 1989 and other successful pro-democracy civil insurrections in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa took place without access to Internet technology. In Mali — an impoverished landlocked West African nation — word of the eventually victorious 1991 pro-democracy struggle against the Traore dictatorship was spread through griots, the traditionally singing storytellers, who would wander from village to village. When a people are committed to a struggle, they will find ways to communicate.

And neither the Tunisian nor the Egyptian revolutions were a result of WikiLeaks. While the leaked cables exposed how US diplomats were well aware of the corruption and repression of the respective regimes and their propensity to deliberately exaggerate the influence of radical Islamists among the opposition, such malfeasance by their governments was certainly nothing new to the citizens of those countries.

It certainly wasn’t the Islamists. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had been playing more the role of informal loyal opposition to the Mubarak regime in recent years. They refused to endorse the initial protests until the last minute and then only half-heartedly. Not only did their higher level of support as the movement later took off smack of opportunism, the conservative Brotherhood and its aging leadership had been increasingly seen by the young secular activists who spearheaded the movement as being almost as out of touch with their day-to-day realities as the regime. The chants, signs, and other outward manifestations of the protesters were decidedly secular with liberal democratic and leftist themes.

Nor was the successful, large-scale application of nonviolent tactics that succeeded in bringing down the dictator a result of assistance or training by outsiders. There were a couple of seminars organized by Egyptian pro-democracy groups which brought in veterans of popular unarmed insurrections in Serbia, South Africa, Palestine, and other countries along with some Western academics who have studied the phenomenon, but these seminars focused on generic information about the history and dynamics of strategic nonviolent action, not on how to overthrow Mubarak. Neither the foreign speakers nor their affiliated institutions provided any training, advice, money, or anything tangible to the small number of Egyptian activists that attended. As one of the academics who lectured at one of these seminars, I can vouch that the Egyptians present were already very knowledgeable and sophisticated in terms of strategic thinking about their struggle. None of us foreigners can take credit for what later transpired.

Nor was it a spontaneous reaction to the Tunisian Revolution, which had emerged victorious in its largely nonviolent uprising against the Ben Ali dictatorship two weeks earlier. While the unarmed insurrection in Tunisia certainly inspired and empowered many Egyptians who had long been sunk in fear, cynicism and apathy, the Egyptian revolution had been a long time coming. There had been a dramatic growth in Egyptian civil society during the preceding years, with an increasing number of labor strikes and small, but ever-larger, demonstrations led by such youthful, secular pro-democracy groups as Kefaya (meaning “Enough!”) and the April 6 Movement (named after a nationwide strike and protest on that date in 2008.) Increasing government repression, worsening economic conditions and parliamentary elections this past November that were even more transparently fraudulent than most, led many of us to suspect that it was only a matter of time before Mubarak would be ousted in a popular uprising. Indeed, my visits to Egypt and meetings with pro-democracy activists led me to predict in an article posted in early December that “Egypt could very well be where the next unarmed popular pro-democracy insurrection takes place of the kind that brought down Marcos in the Philippines, Milosevic in Serbia and scores of other autocratic regimes in recent decades.” (Little did I know the Tunisians would beat them to it.)

It is, therefore, critical, particularly for those of us in the United States and other Western countries, not to deny agency to an Arab people who had the courage and smarts to organize and fight their own nonviolent revolution.

Indeed, this revolution strikes a blow to the two extremes in the nearly decade-long battle between Islamist extremists and US imperialists. Al-Qaeda’s first attack against US interests was in 1995 against a residential compound in Riyadh used by US soldiers responsible for training the Saudi National Guard, the branch of the Saudi military used primarily for internal repression. The line put forward by Osama bin Laden and like-minded self-styled jihadists has long been that US-backed dictatorships can only be defeated through terrorism and adherence to a reactionary and chauvinistic interpretation of Islam. On the other extreme, the line put forward by American neoconservatives and their supporters has long been that democracy could only come to the Middle East through US military intervention, as with the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The people of Egypt and Tunisia have powerfully demonstrated that both of these violent militaristic ideologies are wrong.

These are hardly the first countries to have seen dictators overthrown through nonviolent action. Its power has even been acknowledged even by such groups as Freedom House, a Washington-based organization with close ties to the foreign policy establishment. Its 2005 study observed that, of the nearly 70 countries that had made the transition from dictatorship to varying degrees of democracy in the previous 30 years, only a small minority did so through armed struggle from below or reform instigated from above. Hardly any new democracies resulted from foreign invasion. In nearly three-quarters of the transitions, change was rooted in democratic civil-society organizations that employed nonviolent methods. In addition, the study noted that countries where nonviolent, civil resistance movements played a major role tend to have freer and more stable democratic systems.

A different study, published in 2007 in the journal International Security, used an expanded database and analyzed 323 major insurrections in support of self-determination and democratic rule since 1900. It found that violent resistance was successful only 26 percent of the time, whereas nonviolent campaigns had a 53 percent rate of success.

From the poorest nations of Africa to the relatively affluent countries of Eastern Europe; from communist regimes to right-wing military dictatorships; from across the cultural, geographic and ideological spectrum, democratic and progressive forces have recognized the power of nonviolent action to free them from oppression. This has not come, in most cases, from a moral or spiritual commitment to nonviolence, but simply because it works.

As noted in such books as “Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization and Governance in the Middle East,” there is a long history of nonviolent resistance in the Middle East, including Egypt’s 1919 independence struggle against the British. Iran has a long history of such uprisings, including the Tobacco Strike of the 1890s, the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the aborted Green Revolution of 2009. Palestine has witnessed the general strike of the 1930s, the first intifada in the late 1980 and more recent campaigns against the separation wall and settlement expansion in the West Bank. In Sudan, unarmed insurrections ousted military dictatorships in both 1964 and 1985 (though the democratic governments that followed were eventually overthrown in military coups.) The 2006 Cedar Revolution in Lebanon ended years of Syrian domination of that country. There has also been an ongoing nonviolent resistance campaign in the nation of Western Sahara against the illegal Moroccan occupation. And, in recent weeks, pro-democracy protests have broken out in Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Algeria, Iran, and other countries.

This rich history, mostly dramatically played out on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities in recent weeks, demonstrates a critical point: Democracy will not come to the Middle East through foreign intervention, sanctimonious statements from Washington, voluntary reforms by autocrats, or armed struggle by a self-selected vanguard. It will only come through the power of massive non-cooperation with illegitimate authority and the strategic application of nonviolent action by Middle Eastern peoples themselves.

@Huffington Post

Why is Darjeeling Burning?

IN THE BEGINNING

To answer this question I’ll have to tell you a little about Darjeeling’s history and its inhabitants who are essentially an indigenous people called the Gorkhas or Gurkhas as the Brits would like to spell it. In the beginning, they happened to be the most formidable adversary for the British during their campaign to conquer the world as it were, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After having taken much of India, now their eyes fell upon a smallish hill kingdom known as Nepal which had a record of not having been under foreign rule ever and it is still true today as it had been then. This makes the Nepalese a proud people. During one of the British campaigns to subdue the Nepalese, the latter with a force of just two hundred soldiers and their families, are known to have held the fort of Nala Pani, near today’s Dehradun in India, for two years. It was during this siege, the British General Gillespie was killed. After cutting off the fort’s water supply, the British waited some more time for the Nepalese to surrender. When no such thing happened, they stormed the fort to find everyone had disappeared without a trace. It was a moral victory for the Nepalese. There were no more wars between the British and the Nepalese but only truces during which Nepal had to concede much of its territories to the British Empire. The British Raj in turn left them at peace and being impressed by their fighting skills, they began to induct able bodied men into their army. Thus was born the British Gurkha Regiment.

DARJEELING IS BORN

I’m no historian or a political analyst so whatever I write will be from a common man’s perspective. There are no dates or corroborative references to show so correct me if I am wrong. To get a bigger picture, we must go back even before The British East India Company had got a stranglehold of much of India. There was no such country as Nepal then. A Raput clan, which later became the Shah dynasty, after having been harassed relentlessly by the Mughal armies, escaped to the hills of Gorkha, now in western Nepal. Today’s Nepal consisted of small principalities divided along ethnic and linguistic lines. Prithivi Narayan Shah, one of the chieftains of the principality of Gorkha had expansionist designs which led him and his army to finally conquer all these hill states including the Kathmandu valley which under his kingship came to be called Nepal. Thus was established the Shah Dynasty and the country of Nepal. Gurkha or Gorkha was a name given to the Nepalese people by the British. Much of the Nepalese people being martial in nature continued to conquer more land towards the east and the west. When they took stock finally, they had under them much of Sikkim in the east and up to Himachal Pradesh in the west. Thanks to the British treaties, they are now left with a miserable piece of land which we call Nepal. [It is a beautiful country, no doubt].

My concern is with the eastern part of what then belonged to Nepal. Thanks again to the Brits, this tract of land between the rivers Mechi and Teesta, changed hands and was returned to Sikkim. The Rajah of Sikkim was beyond himself by the favour done to them by the British and being generous to a fault signed away the same tract of land to them because the British Sahibs found the climate suitable for their mem sahibs to live during the long Indian summers. What went on between the mem sahibs and the few sahibs left to take care of them in the hills is a topic for another story. The plains of India were too hot for them during the summers and so they began building small new townships in the hills which they called ‘hill stations’. Thus began the history of Darjeeling which in the early 1800’s was sparsely populated by the indigenous Lepcha people and a few hundred families of the Gorkha soldiers who had opted to stay back when Nepal conceded these tracts of land to the British. One important point to note about the Gorkha soldiers was that in their unique way of warfare they brought their families along so everywhere they conquered they would have readymade families to settle down with. This was true in Himachal Pradesh, the hills of Uttar Pradesh and even Sikkim and Darjeeling. So, giving a foreign tag to the Indian Gorkhas by some communities is like calling the Indian Prime Minister, Man Mohan Singh, who was born in Pakistan, a foreigner. Even Sonia Gandhi is of Italian ancestry and the father of the CPM party, the late Jyoti Basu, also came to West Bengal from Bangladesh. It is said up to three million Bengali refugees entered India after the Indo-Pak war of 1971. Hundreds of thousands of them pour into North Bengal every year along the almost porous border. They form a readymade vote bank for the CPM party and they have no difficulty in obtaining ration cards or voter’s ID cards, issued by the Election Commission. Thus, these Bengalees from Bangladesh become pucca Indian citizens by nefarious means while the Gorkhas who came to India with the land have always been treated as outsiders and atrocities against them in most of the North Eastern states have become a regular affair. This is the only reason why the Indian Gorkhas aspire for a separate land for themselves inside the Indian union.

As the British sahibs were preparing themselves to beat the heat building hill stations, they needed labour to build roads, buildings and other infrastructure. The Gorkhas from the eastern parts of Nepal came in droves looking for work and there seemed to be plenty for all those who came because the Brits had a bright idea planting tea in the hill tracts and the adaptable Gorkha community made themselves at home working in these plantations. By their sweat and blood, today after almost two centuries, Darjeeling tea has become the best tea in the world.

STRIFE

Time passes and the Gorkha community becomes sizable. They sent countless deputations to the British Indian Government asking them to give them a separate identity as a people within India. All this fell to deaf ears. Sometimes, the Darjeeling district would be clubbed together with Darbhanga in Bihar and at other times with some other areas seemingly for administrative suitability. It appears that at the time of independence, the people of Darjeeling were so confused and frustrated that as a form of protest, they hoisted the Pakistani flag from the town hall. Darjeeling had to stay as a district within the state of West Bengal.

Discontentment remained as an undercurrent amongst the people of Darjeeling for decades because they were behind in every aspect such as education, employment, economy etc… There weren’t enough educational institutions to study or enough jobs in this very backward tract of land. Whatever infrastructure the British had built became either defunct from lack of maintenance or disgracefully inadequate. As the decades passed, the population swelled as is the case in the rest of India but the quality of life worsened for the Gorkha community while it has improved considerably for most parts of India after the so called economic reforms. The tea gardens began to close down while the fat owners themselves invested their money elsewhere in the new upcoming Indian economy. We have read many times of tea garden workers of the closed gardens starving to death while the owners have been eating cake.

Having had it up to their necks, the discontentment amongst the Indian Gorkhas erupts into a violent agitation which lasted for a couple of years during which several thousand people were ruthlessly killed by the paramilitary forces sent by the Federal Government of India. Thousands of people were rendered homeless and most shameful of all was the use of rape as a weapon of war. The Gorkha leaders were brought to the table for talks but naivety took its toll again. Darjeeling was given the status of an autonomous council which supposedly had powers just a little more than a municipality. But the funds they were promised were many fold. This so called DGHC accord was supposed to be the full and final agreement and the demand for Gorkhaland was a closed chapter. The man who was supposed to have pulled it off believed himself to be the uncrowned king of the Gorkhas.There was dancing and singing in the streets of Darjeeling and other smaller towns across the hills and the night sky was lit up by fire works.

Time passes. To be precise, twenty two years passed and the children of the ‘revolution’ became adults. At the end of the day they had little to show in terms of development and any kind of upliftment of the economy. The precious little the ‘king’ and his men had done was build a few roads leading to nowhere and some grotesque looking buildings popularly called ‘community halls’ where people gathered to celebrate weddings and mourn deaths. The skyline of Darjeeling changed in a bizarre way in that many high rise buildings came up; all of them belong to a handful of people close to the ‘king’. The common man was short changed once more. The millions which came as development funds were unaccounted for. It so happened that one fine morning the ‘king of the Gorkhas’ was hounded out of the hills of Darjeeling and accompanying him were his councilors. Another Gorkha leader took charge under a new banner and a new improved philosophy of Gandhian non-violence. While the idea is excellent but my own personal view is that Gandhi and Gorkha are as different as chalk is from cheese because the Gorkha, though peaceful at most times, is a fighting man and on the other hand any kind of violence would make Gandhi’s head swim. If this new party’s belief in non-violence comes from the heart, instead of being a gimmick, I believe they will be able to achieve what they have set out to do, finally; no matter what the odds are. Because Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and truth has brought down the hated Apartheid regime in South Africa and Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement based along Gandhian principles brought freedom to the black people of America.

This new movement in Darjeeling seems to be more or less following the Gandhian path except for a few killings and burning of houses which their cadres vehemently deny. If they are following the path of truth from their hearts, they must know. One extremely sad episode was the brutal murder of another Gorkha leader who believed in Gorkhaland from his heart and was all the time telling people he knew the secret to achieve it. Till date no one knows who killed him but federal investigations are on and one day the truth may come out and justice will be served. Killing this man was equivalent toshooting the messenger.

The movement is continuing with sporadic instances of violence and hunger strikes, rallies, bandhs etc… Now only time will tell what turn the movement will take next and whether the Gorkha people will get their justice. At this point in time Darjeeling must feel like Cinderella just after that stroke of the mid night hour and she has just lost her slipper.

By Rajan Pradhan

Nepal profile

A chronology of key events:

The world’s highest mountain – Mount Everest, known in Nepal as “Sagarmatha”

1768 – Gurkha ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah conquers Kathmandu and lays foundations for unified kingdom.

1792 – Nepalese expansion halted by defeat at hands of Chinese in Tibet.

1814-16 – Anglo-Nepalese War; culminates in treaty which establishes Nepal’s current boundaries.

1846 – Nepal falls under sway of hereditary chief ministers known as Ranas, who dominate the monarchy and cut off country from outside world.

1923 – Treaty with Britain affirms Nepal’s sovereignty.

Absolute monarchy

1950 – Anti-Rana forces based in India form alliance with monarch.

1951 – End of Rana rule. Sovereignty of crown restored and anti-Rana rebels in Nepalese Congress Party form government.

1953 New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1955 – Nepal joins the United Nations.

First to the top of Everest: Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary

1955 – King Tribhuwan dies, King Mahendra ascends throne.

1959 – Multi-party constitution adopted.

1960 – King Mahendra seizes control and suspends parliament, constitution and party politics after Nepali Congress Party (NCP) wins elections with B. P. Koirala as premier.

1962 – New constitution provides for non-party system of councils known as “panchayat” under which king exercises sole power. First elections to Rastrya Panchayat held in 1963.

1972 – King Mahendra dies, succeeded by Birendra.

Multi-party politics

1980 – Constitutional referendum follows agitation for reform. Small majority favours keeping existing panchayat system. King agrees to allow direct elections to national assembly – but on a non-party basis.

A Nepalese woman spins a prayer wheel, in a country where religion plays a major role

1985 – NCP begins civil disobedience campaign for restoration of multi-party system.

1986 – New elections boycotted by NCP.

1989 – Trade and transit dispute with India leads to border blockade by Delhi resulting in worsening economic situation.

1990 – Pro-democracy agitation co-ordinated by NCP and leftist groups. Street protests suppressed by security forces resulting in deaths and mass arrests. King Birendra eventually bows to pressure and agrees to new democratic constitution.

1991 – Nepali Congress Party wins first democratic elections. Girija Prasad Koirala becomes prime minister.

Political instability

1994 – Koirala’s government defeated in no-confidence motion. New elections lead to formation of Communist government.

1995 – Communist government dissolved.

Maoists waged a bloody war against the monarchy

1995 – Start of Maoist revolt which drags on for more than a decade and kills thousands. The rebels want the monarchy to be abolished.

1997 – Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba loses no-confidence vote, ushering in period of increased political instability, with frequent changes of prime minister.

2000 – GP Koirala returns as prime minister, heading the ninth government in 10 years.

Palace killings

2001 1 June – King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and other close relatives killed in shooting spree by drunken Crown Prince Dipendra, who then shoots himself.

Nepalese mourn the royal family slain in a shooting spree

2001 – Prince Gyanendra crowned King.

2001 July – Maoist rebels step up campaign of violence. Prime Minister GP Koirala quits over the violence; succeeded by Sher Bahadur Deuba.

2001 November – Maoists end four-month old truce with government, declare peace talks with government failed. Launch coordinated attacks on army and police posts.

Emergency

2001 November – State of emergency declared after more than 100 people are killed in four days of violence. King Gyanendra orders army to crush the Maoist rebels. Many hundreds are killed in rebel and government operations in the following months.

2002 May – Parliament dissolved, fresh elections called amid political confrontation over extending the state of emergency. Sher Bahadur Deuba heads interim government, renews emergency.

2002 October – King Gyanendra dismisses Deuba and indefinitely puts off elections set for November.

2003 January – Rebels, government declare ceasefire.

End of truce

2003 August – Rebels pull out of peace talks with government and end seven-month truce. The following months see resurgence of violence and frequent clashes between students/activists and police.

2004 April – Nepal joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

2004 May – Street protests by opposition groups demanding a return to democracy. Royalist Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa quits.

Direct royal rule

2005 February – King Gyanendra assumes direct control and dismisses the government. He declares a state of emergency, citing the need to defeat Maoist rebels.

2005 April – King lifts the state of emergency amid international pressure.

2005 November – Maoist rebels and main opposition parties agree on a programme intended to restore democracy.

2006 April – King Gyanendra agrees to reinstate parliament following weeks of violent strikes and protests against direct royal rule. Maoist rebels call a three-month ceasefire.

2006 May – Parliament votes unanimously to curtail the king’s political powers.

The government and Maoist rebels begin peace talks, the first in nearly three years.

Peace deal

2006 November – Government and Maoists sign a peace accord – the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) – declaring a formal end to a 10-year rebel insurgency.

2007 January – Maoist leaders enter parliament under the terms of a temporary constitution.

Maoists join government

2007 April – Maoists join interim government, a move that takes them into the political mainstream.

2007 September – Three bombs hit Kathmandu in the first attack in the capital since the end of the Maoist insurgency.

Maoists quit interim government to press demand for monarchy to be scrapped. This forces the postponement of November’s constituent assembly elections.

End of monarchy

2007 December – Parliament approves abolition of monarchy as part of peace deal with Maoists, who agree to re-join government.

From bullets to the ballot box: Former rebels take part in landmark elections in April 2008

2008 January – A series of bomb blasts kill and injure dozens in the southern Terai plains, where activists have been demanding regional autonomy.

2008 April – Former Maoist rebels win the largest bloc of seats in elections to the new constituent assembly, but fail to achieve an outright majority.

2008 May – Nepal becomes a republic.

2008 June – Maoist ministers resign from the cabinet in a row over who should be the next head of state.

2008 July – Ram Baran Yadav becomes Nepal’s first president.

2008 August – Maoist leader Prachanda forms coalition government, with Nepali Congress going into opposition.

Maoists leave government

2009 May – Prime Minister Prachanda resigns in a row with President Yadav. Maoists leave government after other parties oppose integration of former rebel fighters into national army.

Veteran Communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal named new prime minister.

Gurkha veterans with at least four years’ service in the British army are given permission to settle in the UK.

2009 December – Four people are killed during clashes triggered by Maoist-led land grab in far west of country, giving rise to fears over future of peace process.

2010 May – Governing coalition and Maoist opposition agree to extend deadline for drafting of new constitution to May 2011.

2010 June – PM Madhav Kumar Nepal quits under Maoist pressure.

2010 December – WikiLeaks website publishes US diplomatic cables alleging that police were bribed by Chinese authorities into handing over Tibetan refugees trying to flee China. They deny the charges.

2011 January – UN peace monitoring mission ends.

2011 February – Jhalnath Khanal elected premier, ending a seven-month stalemate during which Nepal had no effective government.

@BBC