Inside the Tomaquag Museum Indigenous communities worldwide, be it in America or here in Nepal, have suffered great injustices at the hands of colonialist settlers. This visit to Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island, during my Cultural Exchange Program sponsored by RELO— Regional English Language Office, and facilitated by the University of Rhode Island, was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. The rosetinted view I had of the American Revolution and Democracy had to come to terms with the reality of the American Indigenous experiences. The Declaration of Independence, which is said to enshrine the democratic values of individual rights, equality and sovereignty, and is seen as one of the most important documents in the history of modern democracy, to the people of the Narragansett and the Niantic Nations, it symbolizes oppression, injustice, dehumanisation, and seizure of indigenous land, erasure of people and their cultural identity. The Narrag...
I. Dressed in grey shorts and a maroon T-shirt with an almost empty black backpack, I walk along the footpath by the Sanchaykosh Bhawan . There’s barely any space left along the sidewalk. People from across Kathmandu have thronged to Thamel today, at Durbar Square –a kilometre away— another group have gathered to commemorate the dead. I have decided, instead, to be a part of Nepal’s first Pride Parade. A sense of joy, a sense of pride is welling up in my chest, I have been a part of something historic. I have become, by participating in the parade, an ally of the LGBTIQ+ community. Instead of getting lost in a centuries-old tradition, I once loved as a child, I have become a part of the birth of a new tradition that celebrates the living and not the dead. The “progressive” in me is happy, wondering why people have issues when other people do not live their lives according to what society considers “normal” and acceptable. The surrounding is festive. Bright, wide smiles. Rainbow Fl...
"From Volunteers to King Makers" On September 8, GenZs across the country called for a simultaneous protest against the KP Oli-led government following the Social Media Ban, demanding social media unban and freedom of expression, the establishment of an independent and transparent anticorruption probe, and resignation of the then PM Oli. Out of the many Gen Z organisers across Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber, TikTok, the most visible ones were gen.znepal and Hami Nepal on Instagram. Volunteers or Organisers? From the very beginning, Gurung and Hami Nepal have gone an extra mile to establish themselves as just volunteers “providing water and medical support” to the GenZ protestors. However, upon revisiting the videos on k/Hami Nepal and Gurung’s Instagram feed, it is evident they have always been more than just “volunteers”; they have been ONE of the organisers. Why hide that fact? First calls for the protest seem to appear on September 6 on Social Media sites like Instagram. On...
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