WASHINGTON RALLY:
Madhavi Basnet
BY MADHAVI BASNET
Ladies and gentlemen,
I remember those days long gone, when I was practicing law in the industrial town of Biratnagar, that I first realized the plight of women being denied their rights. It was during this practice that I experienced first hand the different injustices and abuses of women in many different forms. It was this experience that moved me, and I decided to make human rights, especially women’s rights, my cause.
After restoration of democracy in 1990, there was an air of openness, in which we could tackle the different problems faced by women. We could raise our voice, either in national level, or international level. There was no repression, and the process was started to slowly bring to light the discriminatory laws and practices against women.
Many non-governmental organizations grew up to fight against different aspects of women’s right, and other issues concerning women, such as discriminating laws, domestic violence, trafficking, and the list goes on.
It has not been easy for us to come this far. As women, we have had to struggle and sacrifice a lot to demand our place in the society. The journey to equality and safeguarding of our rights has gone from Mexico Conference, Nairobi Conference and reached its peak in Beijing Conference, and has gone beyond it. The women of the world had to fight to snatch back their rightful place in the world, and Nepal was no exception. Nepalese women also had to fight and sacrificie to get what was our rights. And I am proud to be a part of that movement.
However, our struggle was made possible only because of the openness found in democracy. It was in this transparent and open democracy that we could raise our voice against injustices. It was in this democracy, where we did not fear to talk our mind, did not have to look around in fear, where civil liberties were respected, where press was free to criticize, and people did not disappear for voicing their opinion.
Unfortunately, this is what we have come to now. Democracy is in jeopardy in Nepal, and without democracy, the whole process of building the nation and the society has ground to a standstill. I agree that the players of the democratic system in Nepal may have been wavering, making mistakes, or trying to take advantage of the simple mind of Nepalese people. But that can not be an excuse for taking away the civic rights of the same people, to muzzle the press, and hide the mayhem.
I would like to quote here, the famous quotation of Winston Churchill, a brilliant statesman and a champion of democracy: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Democracy is the only system which has room for people of all kinds of ideologies, which can support and nurture diverse ideas, and which can provide a safe platform to air one’s opinion, from ultra-left ideologies to ultra-right ideologies.
Using the word democracy only does not make a country democratic. Democracy is defined by the way it is implemented, wehre the people can feel the freedom. Calling a country democratic, while taking away the civil liberties, muzzling the press, undermining the judiciary, ignoring the due processes, rampant detention of people from different walk of life, and disappearance of people, certainly are not the characteristics of democracy.
And that is why we are here. We have gathered here in solidarity for restoration of democracy, with all its characteristics, resumption of full civic rights, freeing the political prisoners, and stopping the harassment of the media.
As mentioned before, there can be no alternate to freedom. There can be no atlernate to human rights, there can be no going backwards to the same confusion and uncertainty. There is no alternate to destroying all that we have achieved. If there were mistakes done in the past, then we should correct those mistakes, and move forward, not hold the country hostage. The fear rampant among the people, having to look over their shoulders each time they speak, not knowing whether they will be coming back home to their loved ones when leaving the house, has to change. The rampant human rights abuse, which seems to be increasing as the days goes by, has to stop.
To the organizers of this rally, I have one thing to say. You will find human rights activists like us always beside you in the struggle for democrayc, because we all have learned taht the human rights can be truly honored only in an absolute democracy. There can be no going back anymore. |
