Seminar Report on Initiative for Democracy Building Education about Voters and Civic Rights

Organised by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)

Manthali (27-28 November) and Charikot (29-30 November) 2007
Prepared by Tara Dahal, MA. Sociology and Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. Email: dahal_tara@yahoo.com

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), a German Political Foundation, has organized training-cum- seminar on "Democracy Building: Education about Voters and Civic Rights" in Ramechhap (Manthali) and Dolakha (Charikot) districts. The civic education program was supported by the German Foreign Ministry. The objectives of the program are to educate Nepali citizens on civic and voters rights to enable them to participate in the political process, particularly, on the upcoming Constituent Assembly election, instill in them basic concepts of state building and peace process and explain to them key concepts of democracy.

In both districts the programs were attended by judges, Chief District officers, political leaders of all political parties (including Maoist), government officials, Nepal Army, election officer, local development officer, Police, Armed Police Force, academicians, teachers, NGO personnel, members of civil society, such as student leaders, youths, women, representatives of UNMIN, trade unions and other stakeholders of society.

In Manthali the program was attended by 135 participants and in Dolakha 154. In both the programs district judge and Chief District Officer respectively attended as chairpersons. FES distributed three handouts on democracy, Constituent Assembly (CA) and state-building to all the participants, political parties and public libraries.

Proceedings

In his presentation, Dev Raj Dahal described the preconditions of civic state and fusion of various ideologies of the contemporary world-liberal-pluralist, Marxist and nationalist into the basic values of human rights, democracy, social justice, peace and international norms. He also highlighted new forms of struggle around identity, culture, symbols, socialization and social integration and the role of civic education in the transformation of diverse people into Nepali citizens. He vividly narrated the condition of Nepali state, constitutionalism and politics, vision and leadership, political parties, civil society and elections, multidimensional nature of conflict (geopolitical, structural, manifest, perceptual and latent), peace agreement, obstacles to conflict transformation and the choices of Nepali people. To him, primary obstacle to democracy building in Nepal is the lack of state stability and will of the ruling political class to act against forces of chaos. The weak state power limits the egalitarian effects of democracy. Underlining five specific conditions of modernity-economy, education, technology, organizations and leadership-he added that Nepalese must work hard to achieve a balance between freedom and stability. Kashi Raj Dahal, Constitutional Expert, explained various modes of constitution-making process, types of election, their advantages and disadvantages, connection between law and politics and shared the experiences of various countries in Constituent Assembly (CA) processes. Roles of various stakeholders were also discussed to make the exercise of CA meaningful and participatory. They together explained "Handouts on Democracy" citing various examples of Nepal. The floor discussion focused on various themes which are presented below:

Democracy

The April 2006 movement had three objectives: peace, inclusive state and democracy based on the sovereignty of people. The Eight-Party Alliance promulgated the Interim Constitution, Interim Parliament and Interim Government to facilitate the transition and hold CA elections. Since all the arrangements were interim there was a lack of the "principles of constitutionalism," said K. R. Dahal. If this transition is prolonged due to regular postponement of CA elections it will create a crisis in legitimacy of governance and provoke sharp resistance from those who are not party to ruling coalition. The first priority is to create conducive security environment and confidence building measures, then show commitment to peace process, then halt the proliferation of non-state armed actors and finally find an outlet to hold elections as soon as possible to establish the legitimacy of rule, power and authority. Participants in both the places revealed that people are desperately seeking opportunity for voting but leaders are putting off the whole process under various pretexts. The CA elections are very important to create peaceful channel to reconcile grievances and instill popular hope, replacing the sense of powerlessness and despair. They viewed that violence and lawlessness unleashed by various forces has weakened the process of democratization. Democracy establishes the accountability of power and facilitates peaceful circulation of elites in power through periodic elections.

Governance

Nav Raj Panthi inquired whether the current government is legitimate after the CPN (Maoist) withdrew. He added that culture of impunity has weakened the capacity of public institutions, leaders maintain a manifest gap between promise and performances and civil society groups are torn between conflicting interests. These factors have generated credibility problem of the actors of governance in coordination and collective action. In such a context, how can the rights and responsibilities of the state and society be balanced? Ram B. Basnet said that national policy makers should undergo civic education training. It can help them to understand the political framework of policy making. Keshav Prasad Chaulagain stressed that the leaders must learn from society and reflect about their performance in order to reform according to the legitimate needs of people. Pradip Manandhar argued for the necessity of inter and intra-party democratization and introduction of courses for democratic socialization of cadres so that they cannot be instrumentalized against each other. To him, a common process of political socialization orients various actors to single goal of national development. Nar Bahadur Pakharin viewed that the SPA does not have sufficient capacity to hold elections and maintain peace in the country. This SPA framework must be broad-based and value-based. The interim constitution only mentions about the SPA which is wrong and undemocratic. It must be changed and made inclusive of political diversity. If social and political minorities do not become a part of the new order they will not abide by its rules.

Federalism

A good number of participants asked about the suitability of federalism in Nepal and sought the resource persons to discuss various models existing in the world. Some stressed on the principles of subsidiarity and devolution of power within federal units. Others rejected federalism's viability on economic grounds. Laxman Ghimire questioned: Are we going to create the state, nation-state or province? Is not nationalism being reduced to sectarianism? How unequal regions can foster the democratic culture of equality within the country and enable the nation to become competitive in the international system when internal competition for resources overwhelms its ability to act collectively? He sough a balance between the authority of the state and sovereignty of citizens in policy matters. Both the resource persons presented their experience of various countries. Joint Secretary Binod Gyawali argued that discussion are important to define the shape of Nepal's future in terms of the nature of state, power sharing arrangements, adjustment of minority, election system, peace, social justice and development. He believed that direct election of leadership can make them more accountable than the proportional one which makes political process leader and party-oriented.

Citizen and Rule Making

Chief District Officer of Ramechhap Surya Prasad Shrehsta stressed on strengthening civic competence of citizens to vitalize democracy and put a tab on historical trajectory of political instability in Nepal. A constitution framed by the representative of people can guarantee political stability, peace and development. But, political questions must be sorted out before any important initiative. Civic responsibility of citizens and the leaders is a lynchpin to role socialization and their systemic orientation. Chief District Officer of Dolakha Hari Prasad Mainali stressed the importance of civic education to all the stakeholders to facilitate the transition process. Krishna B. Khadka posed three questions as to what kind of law is effective when a) some political parties sign agreement, contest elections but do not abide by its verdict? b) How to instill consciousness among political leaders that killing of people is bad politics? c) How to educate people about the importance of peace in Nepal? Kamana representing CPN (Maoist) asserted that constitution is a means, not an end. Politics should not become a problem in social transformation but it should become a solution to various problems of society. She added, "Young Communist League should not be criticized for its action against culprit." She asked why laws are not properly implemented in Nepal for civic state is regulated by law. Kamala Thapa hoped that the discussion of this short would empower women to know more about the rules and procedures of constitution making process and enable them to meaningfully participate in the whole exercise.

Leadership

Chief Justice of Ramechhap Indra B Karki argued that professionalism of leadership in rule making is essential to foster institutional culture. Politics is the realm of freedom, therefore, it must create an atmosphere to break deadlock existing in the country and draft a realistic political compass to steer the political transition in desirable course. Participants argued that due to the erosion of political worldviews leaders are leaning towards ethnic, caste, race and sectarian politics. It has generated social contradiction, divided the political class and intellectuals and delayed the social transformation. Pharnagel Moktan, however, believed that leaders should think about new state structures which are inclusive, tolerant towards minority and broad-based. Similarly, citizens together with political parties and civil society should draft a road map of the nation for future and mediate the conflicting perspectives. He asserted that there is a correlation between ethnic and class movement in Nepal. A nation springs from the need of people to belong to a community, to share a common life and protect itself from external domination. He also asked a question as to whether human rights are absolute or relative. To it, Dev R. Dahal answered human rights are both protective and promotive of human values. Navraj Kandel too argued that political dualism and dishonesty must end. Once accords are signed leaders must abide by them and regulate their behavior accordingly. This is important to concert their cooperative action. He also argued that cadres of CPN (Maoist) should be given more exposure in democratic discussion but the state must prevent non-state actor's drive to collect tax and use violence. Some participants were critical of political parties for converting citizens into individual clients and reinforcing the political culture of feudalism. Other participants close to Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Rastriya Janashakti Party opposed the primacy of seven- party alliance and its monopoly on power. They also added that political leaders must demonstrate their constitutional commitment on the position of monarchy and the election system.

Education

Participants preferred to link civic education with the national curriculum of schools and colleges so that young people can learn about the principles and practice of democracy there. Pavan and Jagannath Dahal opined that when remittance economy is getting primacy over the policy how can educated and youth be retained in the country for national development? How can the civic loyalty of people be entrenched into the state in difficult political transition? Deepak Prasain and Ram B. Basnet viewed that without good education and sound technological evolution substantive change cannot be sustained and achieved. Murari Dulal requested all the participants that the knowledge they have gained in the training should be disseminated to the villages through various channels of communication and villagers should be linked to national level initiatives. This will give them necessary knowledge about the national polity.

Economy

Tej Prasad Uprety wanted to know about the content of revolutionary land reforms being paraded by left forces in Nepal. Kul Prasad asked: Does exploitation exist in Europe and the United States or is it specific to developing countries only? K. Dahal explained the conditions of social security and other protective mechanism against exploitation in some developed countries. Murari Dulal said that due to non-performance of the government and political parties on economic issues people are being frustrated now. How can we be able to transform the aspiration-fuelled politics into a realistic development framework? Tank Moktan and Srijana Karki believed that top-down concept of development and democracy must be reverted to bottom-up process because sovereignty springs from people. This reversal process will contribute to change the existing culture of policy, institution and processes and can enable women, marginalized and Dalits to participate in the public life of the nation. Participants believed that trust-building and reconciliation are critical areas to encourage outsiders to bring investment opportunities, augment technological innovation and economic development. They observed that only a judicious balance between economic freedom and political democracy can provide the necessary foundation for the triumph of peace and stability in Nepal.

Conclusion

Navraj Kandel summed up the root causes of Nepal's conflict, such as poverty, youth unemployment and discrimination and suggested remedial measures, such as production-based economy, enlargement of agro-based industries, expansion of cooperatives, youth employment, civic education for the public for both social and political integration, prevention of brain-drain and appropriate utilization of natural resources and foreign aid. Many participants felt that external support is very important but local people must be given free hand to develop their institutions and initiatives based on their resources and experiences. Given the diversity of political parties, civil society and people's institutions democratic values should be fostered as a basis for cooperative action.

They also believed that society can achieve progress if dignity, equality and justice are granted to all sections of society including women, Dalits, youth and marginalized population. The inequality of power, resource and identity existing in Nepal seems to make it difficult to establish equality before the rule of law-the core of democracy. Attempt to push through civic education and constitutional accountability of all actors can make democracy-building project realistic and sturdy. The seminars were participatory and interactive not only between the resource persons and the participants but also among participants themselves. At the end of each seminar two female and two male did brief evaluation of the seminars and invited the resource persons to do their follow-up in the future. They expected that more resource materials will be made available from FES.