| Title: | Strategic nonviolence coalition brings about end to corrupt and oppressive monarchy |
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Summary: |
(full text): The people of Nepal suffered under a corrupt and repressive monarchy kept in place by the Panchayat system of control by an elite minority. Opposition parties were banned for 30 years, and the resistance had been violent and unsuccessful. In 1990 a coalition of organizations undertook a new model of nonviolent resistance, determining that with the use of nonviolence their cause might gain international sympathy and remove the rationalization of violent repression by the state. The nonviolent movement began publicly on February 18, 1990, and with widespread public support employed strikes, sit-ins, all-women's blockades, blackouts, and much more. At times whole towns became liberation zones, keeping out government troops and controlling the government police by surrounding police stations and sealing the forces inside. A 200,000-strong nonviolent demonstration in Kathmandu on April 6 where government troops shot and killed at least 50 demonstrators was the Panchayat's last gasp. The reaction to the killing forced King Birendra to lift the ban on opposition parties on April 8, 1990, and multiparty elections were held in the following year. The strength of the coalition and the use of strategic nonviolence can be credited with the near-immediate success of the campaign. "Nepal, Movement for Restoration of Democracy, 1990", by Paul Routledge in Protest, Power, and Change, by Roger S. Powers and William B. Vogele. From War Resistors League 2002 Peace Calendar, Fifty-Two True Stories of Nonviolent Success. |
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Comments: |
Note 6/02: Violence has again erupted in Nepal, unfortunately, from Maoist rebels in the north of Nepal. | ||||
| Location: | Nepal | ||||
| Action: | Boycott/Strike | ||||
| Setting: | Semi-Developed | ||||
| Extent of Action: | Regional (within a country) | ||||
| Issues: | Human Rights | ||||
| Year(s): | 1990 | ||||
| Outcome | successful | ||||
| Source: | War Resisters League 2002 Peace Calendar, Dec2001-Jan2002 | ||||
Contacts: |
additional reading: "Nepal, Movement for Restoration of Democracy, 1990", by Paul Routledge in Protest, Power, and Change, by Roger S. Powers and William B. Vogele. |
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| Prepared By: | rja, 2/02 | ||||
| Rating: | 1 | ||||
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