Pro-democracy protests kicked off in Nepal today. They are protesting King Gyanendra, who seized absolute power in February 2005. The police "pounced on them, manhandling and sometimes beating them - and some ordinary passers by - rounding them up and taking them off in police vans."
I found an interesting piece in Time Magazine that interviewed King Gyanendra. What’s fascinating is how he claims to speak for the common people and how his intentions are benign and selfless.
"But this country is not a triangle. They are forgetting the most important component of any nation: the people. Who is going to talk for the people … if they don't want to, then shouldn't the King? Someone must."
"But I wish the political leadership would understand this and speak more often about the people rather than issues which are irrelevant, which only concern their own betterment."
"You see, I see myself as accountable to the people. If they don't want to be, then I'm sorry. Much of the ill we have suffered is not because of the democratic political system, it's because of the actors in the system. All I'm saying is stop saying 'me.' Say 'us.' Stop saying 'party.' Say 'people.' We do have our own characteristics, culture and value systems in Nepal and democracy must be, if you like, tuned into these. But if the parties start viewing issues from that point of view, I see no problem in the democratic system functioning in Nepal. "
Gyanendra loves talking about democracy but he seems to have a hard time implementing it. Hopefully the protests succeed!
