Nepal Now: On the Move
We're talking with the people migrating from, to, and within this Himalayan country located between China and India. You'll hear from a wide range of Nepali men and women who have chosen to leave the country for better work or education opportunities. Their stories will help you understand what drives people — in Nepal and worldwide — to mortgage their property or borrow huge sums of money to go abroad, often leaving their loved ones behind.
Despite many predictions, migration from Nepal has not slowed in recent years, except briefly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 1 million Nepalis leave every year to work at jobs outside the country. Tens of thousands go abroad to study. Far fewer return to Nepal to settle. The money ('remittances') that workers send home to their families accounts for 25% of the country's GDP, but migration impacts Nepal in many other ways. We'll be learning from migrants, experts and others about the many cultural, social, economic and political impacts of migration.
Your host is Marty Logan, a Canadian journalist who has lived in Nepal's capital Kathmandu off and on since 2005. Marty started the show in 2020 as Nepal Now.
Nepal Now: On the Move
Young activists will endure rape culture no longer
‘The rapist is you’. On October 10th a group of about 20 young women dressed in black took over a street in Kathmandu pointed straight ahead accusingly, and performed the anti-rape song ‘A rapist in your path’. The ‘flash mob’ was protesting what feels like an epidemic of rape in the country. In recent months it seems that every week the media is reporting another violent incident, often against adolescent girls, too often ending in murder.
‘Ajhai kati sahane?’ (How much more must we endure?) is the movement’s name. As we mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, you’ll hear in this episode that what got the (almost all) young women onto the street was the growing chorus of voices screaming, via hashtag, — ‘Hang the rapist’. Movement members Sagoon Bhetwal and Sasmit Pokharel told me that their group of activists disagrees with that diagnosis, arguing that Nepalis need to confront a rape culture, not punish individuals to death.
Ajahi kati sahane? is not taking credit for the government announcement two weeks ago that it plans to increase prison sentence for rape, and punish those who try to settle accusations outside of the justice system. But it considers the pledge a success, and plans to monitor the government to ensure the changes do really happen.
(Apologies for the audio quality in some places — it’s the price we pay for recording online.)
Resources
Kathmandu Post article about the flash mob and Ajhai kati sahane
Nepal Now social links
Thanks as always to Nikunja Nepal for advice and inspiration.
Music: amaretto needs ice ... by urmymuse (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/urmymuse/57996 Ft: Apoxode
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Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole for the use of their studios.
Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.
