THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL

Cover Story BEHIND THE SMOKE SCREEN Despite Nepal’s stiff resistance, the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva last week issued a binding statement, asking Nepal to accept international monitoring of its human rights situation. But the bigger question is whether Nepal is keen about improving its poor human rights record BY SUSHMA JOSHI Nation Weekly, April 26, 2004 Dinesh Prasain has a gap in his teeth when he smiles. The co-ordinator for the Collective Campaign for Peace says he didn’t always have a missing tooth. On December 14, four men in plainclothes came and knocked on his door. “I will open the door if you show me your ID,” said Prasain, who had recently received death threats after writing an article that questioned the integrity of NGOs. The men broke down his door and started to beat him up. They asked him four questions. “Why didn’t you open the door?” “Why are you looking at us in the eye?” “Do you know Bharat Prasain?” And finally: “Where...

A LABORATORY KNOWN AS EVEREST BY SUSHMA JOSHI Nation Weekly, April 26, 2004 Scientists from all over the world come to Nepal to conduct experiments which have long-term conse- quences for humanity. Few of us hear about them. One such experiment is being conducted by three young women on Everest this summer. Angie Morey, 25, Mara Larson, 24, Lara Vowles, 22 are returning to Nepal for two months to follow up on research which will shed light on issues as diverse as Parkinson’s disease, ways in which to lessen air traffic accidents, and the mission to Mars. Why do this research on Everest, you may ask? Everest is probably the only place in the world where people voluntarily put themselves in a temporary situation where their brain is deprived of oxygen. Cutting off the supply of oxygen to the brain can lead to brain damage, which is what happens during strokes. It would be ethically wrong to put subjects through oxygen deprivation in a laboratory to see what can happen ...

Art & Society On The Road With The Red God Kesang Tseten’s new film captures both the Rato Machhindranath festival and the preprations accompanying the grand event in a blow-by-blow rendition BY SUSHMA JOSHI Nation Weekly, August 26, 2004 The sight of a priest proudly display- ing a tiny vest at the Rato Machhindranath festival has been etched into our national consciousness. “On the road with the Red God: Machhindranath” is a film recently made by Kesang Tseten. Tseten takes 110 hours of footage of various acts of human ingenuity and devotion to what seems like a lost cause—namely, the construction of an unwieldy 100 foot chariot that gets tangled up in the electric wires of Patan and tilts drunkenly as it is dragged and pushed and pulled by enthusiasts across flood-washed roads every 12 years, and where men get roaring drunk and get into fights all the way from Bungmati to Patan, and then repeat the process all the way back. Behind the vest rest...

Sushma Joshi One hundred and fifty-five teachers have died at the hands of Maoists and Royal Nepal Army since the conflict began, a recent estimate by the Nepal Teachers Association states. Ganesh Chiluwal, head of the Maoist Victims’ Association, recently killed by Maoists in retaliation for his activism against their violence, reported 250 deaths of teachers. The numbers are probably much higher, according to observers. On February 23, Maoist rebels abducted 44 teachers from Triveni Secondary School in Kailali district, according to the Rajdhani Dainik. The teachers were from 11 different schools, and were attending a training conducted by the District Education Office. “No one knows where the teachers are now…,” a resident said. The District Police Office has denied knowledge of the incident. Bir Bahadur Rana, District Superintendent of Police, said as late as Monday evening, “We do not know anything about the incident yet.” The abductions may have been done to retaliate against ...