Gen Z shakes Nepal from slumber

Generation Z (born between 1997-2012) is not only for food, fashion and freak out. They have as much fire in their hearts as the generations in the seventies and the eighties. They are not led. They themselves lead with a clear agenda to dismantle the old rickety system which fails them and to replace them with a more democratic and egalitarian regime. Of course, impulses and emotions overtake them when they are on the streets but it can be overlooked keeping in view the stage of their life.

The Nepalese polity with the same set of leaders running the show with permutations and combinations over the past 30 decades pilfering the public money crumbled like a house of cards in the two-day tectonic shift.

The Oli government surrendered the very next day of the launch of the protests, Parliament was dissolved and former chief justice of Nepal Sushila Karki took over the reins of power with the promise to root out corruption and usher Nepal in a new era where the poor will not have to slog for hours together for two squares of meal while the sons and daughters of the poor would be rolling in riches. She said she would work as per the thinking of the Generation Z.

Democracy across the nations has failed this generation. Unemployment, no job security, stark inequality and the use of violence to silence the dissent voices had left no way out for the youth of Nepal except to throw out the corrupt and self-seeking regime to bring in sanity.

An UNICEF report last year showed that among the 18-35 age group, only 57 percent people are satisfied with democracy across 30 nations which were surveyed. Unemployment among the youth (18-35) in Nepal is 20 percent.

Several academics are not so optimistic about the outcome of the two-day revolution that shook Nepal. Their perception is based on the hindsight of such revolutions in the past. They say that after a few decades the same afflictions overtook the new systems and things were back to square one across the nations the revolutionary changes.

Bangladesh returned to theocracy, they say. But we have the example of Sri Lanka where a Left of Centre party defeated both Buddhist communalism and dictatorship and transitioned to a new dispensation through election.

Certain sections in Nepal tried to take the country back to the monarchy but ultimately the Generation Z prevailed over them. The looting of public money by the corrupt Nepalese leaders and its flaunting by their brats, particularly by those who had waged a long battle against the monarchy to bring in democracy with Marxist ideology in their hearts, was at the centre of the revolt in Nepal.

They targeted the seats and symbols of power of the elite and of opulence in the midst of poverty and unemployment. They attacked the Singh Durbar, the Supreme Court, administrative buildings, parliament, houses of former and incumbent prime ministers and ministers. Houses of several of them were set ablaze.  They were kicked and thrashed in public.

The protest against Nepal's elite had been simmering for a long time. The youths were venting their grievances and anger on the social media against the lavish life the elite led while people were overwhelmed with poverty.

The foot soldiers of the protests were outraged everyday over the sons of upstart politicians posting on the social media videos and photos splurging on the luxuries of life.

When these politicians saw that their corruption had come into focus, they, as dictators are wont, resorted to silencing the voices of challenge by blocking access to the social media. It was a straw in the wind. The accumulated anger burst out on the roads. Yet the rolling-in-riches regime did not come to their senses. They met the rebellion with violence. The youth patience breached the dam of coercion sweeping away the weeds all to sow a new crop on the fertile land.

Their subterfuge to regulate free speech on social media through a bureaucratic rule of asking their owners to register themselves with the government department concerned backfired.

Prime minister Oli, a communist, had a secret plan up his sleeve. To control and check the protests against the misdeeds of his government on these platforms. But the savvy Generation Z got the whiff of the Oli government's intention. Their protest continued through alternative facilities even after the ban.

The myopic and self-centred could not anticipate that the small noises could add up to a big protest. Instead of initiating a dialogue with the youths, the government went ahead with its plan to deal with the banner of revolt with bandook.

School and college students who baulk at any leash on their right to speak out came out on the roads. The Oli government tried to cow them down. They were not ones to surrender to bullets and bayonets. Several uniformed school children and college students preferred bullets over to meek surrender.

The movement went from a trickle to torrent. It turned into a mob fury dismantling everything which came in their sight. Still, the government had the option to defuse the movement by revoking the social media ban, suspending and punishing police and civil officials to douse the teenagers’ anger. But it cracked under the pressure and fled its responsibilities.

Three South Asian republics saw violent change of regime on corruption and muzzling of free speech to raise voices against it. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and now Nepal saw the deprived and suppressed hit the streets against the rent-seeking politicians. Sri Lanka has returned to democracy after a fresh election while Bangladesh is on its way to it. The people of Nepal will have an opportunity to realise the dream of their choice of regime in March when the country goes to poll.