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Democracy by Bus

This year Denmark is celebrating the fact that the danish constitution was signed 150 years ago.

That is the reason why MS invited eight representatives from partnerorganizations in Africa, Central America and Asia to Denmark for five weeks to participate in the project “Democracy by bus”. The visitors were taken around Denmark in a bus to get a closer look at the Danish democracy from different angles. From their personal experiences they have made their own opinon about the danish democracy as they see it with their different cultural background and traditions. 

The purpose was to exchange experiences with the democracy process between the visitors and the danish people in order to give both parts new knowledge and inspiration.

The following three stories are written by the participants from Nepal, Prem Timsina and Kesang Renchen, after they came back to Nepal.

People’s Role in Democratic Process

The Magic Window : a modern fairy tale

What I wish to take with me from Denmark

People’s Role in Democratic Process

Prem Tilmilsina
Participant in Democracy by Bus

Nepal recently celebrated the 9th anniversary of establishing its democratic Constitution. Nepalese lawmakers agree very much that it is one of the best constitutions. The Nepalese politicians have highlighted many positive aspects of the Constitution. However, on this special occasion, we need to look back to see whether the constitution has been exercised well and whether the general citizens have enjoyed the democracy in the last nine years.

First of all, the majority of Nepalese are unaware of their constitutional rights. Not adequate efforts have been made to educate the people on various aspects of the constitution- most importantly the issues that matter to the common citizenry. One can buy liquor even in a small shop in every village in Nepal, but the constitution may be available only in few shops in the major cities. Many literate people who live in the villages and small towns do not know what the constitution is all about and how the book guarantees their rights and duties. It is assumed that political leaders have a major role to play in the Nepalese democracy. The general people often remain neglected in the democratization process. The voices of grass-root organizations such as farmers’ association, trade unions, mothers’ groups, clubs, NGOs, CBOs and other civic societies are not listened to. Neither are they encouraged to work together to protect their interests. Instead, different political parties patronise them and their identity is ignored.

The different societies are broken down and have become sister organizations of political parties to utilize them for political purpose. In the democratic process, civic societies should have their own identity and they should not be mixed up with political parties. Then only can they maintain their bargaining power, involve themselves in debate and be a lobby group to protect their members’ interest. There should be a hearing process before making any decision. In case the decisions go against the public interest, efforts should be made to influence the decision themselves.

Another essential element of democracy is power sharing. However, Nepalese politics have always demonstrated an attitude to gain power. That is why every Member of Parliament (MP) wants to be a minister for power. As a result, poor Nepalese face an extra large size cabinet and pay huge tax-money for their allowances. The opposition political parties and the minority groups are not invited in the decision making process. The government does not invite people for hearing before making any decision and the people cannot influence the decisions, which are already made- they are only expected to follow, right or wrong. This has minimized possibilities for strengthening the Nepalese democracy.

It is very important to have a fair and honest government to maintain the democracy. However, the Nepalese government has neglected the backward and remote areas of the country and has poured the vast majority of its resources in the big cities. People in the remote parts of Nepal are not able to fulfill their basic survival needs.

As per a recent NPC report, almost 70 percent village people are under poverty. General people do not get basic services from government in those areas. Corruption and commission are highly pronounced at the government bureaucracy. Major government postings are determined based on the tips one can offer. Public organizations are treated as a recruitment center for the followers of political parties. Many public organizations are still subsidized by the government even if these organizations are not producing quality goods/services for the people, let alone the profits.

There needs much to be done to strengthen democracy in Nepal even though it has a good Constitution. The general people, including the political workers, need to be educated about their constitutional rights and duties. All the grass-root organisations and civic societies should exercise their democratic rights to protect their interest. The political parties should not patronise these organisations.

The ‘power hunger’ attitude of politicians and the bureaucrats is the major obstacle to maintain democracy in Nepal. Much effort should made to decentralise their power and decisions should be made involving the groups or the parties, which are likely to be affected by any decision.

There should be a fair system to utilize/ distribute government resources. A transport recruitment, placement, promotion, reward and punishment system should be practiced in the government bureaucracy. There is still a great scope for Nepal to strengthen its democracy within the framework of the present Constitution if all the stakeholders put their efforts together.

The Magic Window : a modern fairy tale

Kesang Renchen
Programme Officer

I used to write stories and poems a long time ago. I had not done it for more than a decade. But when I came here, I suddenly found myself thinking about what we had been learning in terms of tales, the voice saying, “Once upon a time…” came back very strong. Of course I am not a very good story teller, but may be it is only natural to be inspired with the spirit of weaving a fine tale in the land of Hans Christian Andersen, so here is my story…

Once upon a time, a hundred and fifty years ago there was this wise old man with white flowing beard. He also wore a snow white flowing gown which young children around him would always help to pull up so that he would not trip over it as he walked around the little village, he was rather absent minded you see. He was very old, so he walked with a slight stoop and had a crooked walking stick. He was very wise. The people in the village could hear his hearty guffaw down the lane and it somehow made them feel that things were right in their little village.

However, for some days now some of the men and women had expressed concern that the wise old man had been going around the village lanes with a frown. They had not heard his hearty guffaw for quite a few days. It somehow chilled their hearts, almost like a cloud that covers the warmth of the sun on an autumn afternoon. They knew that something was bothering their beloved old man.

They were not far off the mark. The wise old man had something that he had been thinking about, something he wanted to share with his people. But it was also important that he do it at the right time and in the right way. He had this vision of a change that the people direly needed, but the waiting, the waiting for the right time was eating into him. That was why he looked so worried.

One fine day, at last the villagers heard a hearty laugh and they knew that all was well with their wise old man. In fact, they felt almost a gush of wind as they saw the old man rushing past them, his snow-white beard and gown flowing in all directions. The children were almost falling all over themselves trying to keep him from tripping over his white long gown. They were also chiming along with him, “Let’s go! Let’s go! Wakeup lazy ones, it is time to wake up. I have dreams to share, to share with all the young ones and the old ones.”

The village folk all began coming out of their houses. Some of them hurriedly wrapped their freshly baked loaves of bread, through in some butter, cheese and freshly picked apples into their baskets. They knew that sometimes these gatherings could become a full day event with people talking and arguing over things that the old man put before them. Sometimes they thought that he was crazy but most of the time they knew that if they listened carefully to the wise old man he always had ideas that argued well for their village.

“Now then,” started the old man when all folks had gotten around the big tree in the center of the village. The greeting and the chatting stopped except for the occasional cry of a baby or two and some of the children playing around. They listened attentively and this is what the old man had to say…

I had a dream, a strange dream and I think I should share it with you.

In my dream there was this group of people who were together building their houses. They were to be beautiful houses in which no one would know cold, hunger or unhappiness. They had by the end of their discussions together worked out an almost foolproof plan for the perfect formula for their houses… then suddenly there came a voice, a commanding voice from nowhere. It did not arouse fear in them but it made them stay still and listen as though mesmerized….the voice said.

Don’t forget to put in large windows and behind the churchyard you will find these special glasses that I have made especially for you. You have to put in these glasses and no other for your windows. Another thing you have to keep in mind is also that you must clean these windows at least once a day and look out of them. It is very important that you do not forget to do this. If you forget this then you will find that all this hard work you will put into building your beautiful houses will go to waste and you will find yourselves unhappy again… so saying the voice faded off.

The people went about helping each other to build dream houses. They also put in the windows that the voice had told them about. They found the magic glasses in their village churchyard. They put them in and finally all the work was done and the houses were finished. They decided that they should have a big feast to celebrate the fruit of their hard work.

After a feast which lasted late into the night, the people went into their houses contented and filled with pride. They lived happily for a long time. In the beginning they were also very dutiful in cleaning their magic windows and looking out of them. When they looked out they would see a bright light that warmed their hearts. It also made them have strange thoughts such as what the world outside was like and they would see glimpses which made them want to go out to these places. Most of the children loved to look out of the magic windows. They would then together as families look out and later over a warm meal talk about what they had seen and what it could possibly mean. They even felt adventurous enough to want to go out to some of the places and meet these different people and creatures that they saw. A sense of oneness would creep in making them feel that they understood what life was meant to be without having to make the effort to do it.

After a while as is the human nature, the happy people began to see little things that actually could be improved upon in their ‘perfect’ houses. They talked with each other about the color of the flowers that could be made more varied, the different ways that they could save space for all the beautiful things that they had acquired and soon their days were filled with discussions and making their beautiful houses even more beautiful.

However, as they got busier and busier with their task of making their perfect houses, they began to forget about cleaning the window. Occasionally when they passed by if they looked out they found that the bright light had dimmed. They did not find time to stand there and see the images merging out of the bright light nor to feel the warmth from the light. The only signs of attempts at wiping it were the tiny finger marks of children who tried to wipe off the dust. Through the bits that they cleaned the children would see a tiny bit of the bright light and catch glimpses. They would run to their father and mother and tell them what they had seen. In the beginning the parents listened with interest and promised to go with them the next time to clean and look out of the window. But something else more urgent would always come up.

It was the grandfathers and grandmothers who would accompany the children to the windows and explain them some of what they saw. They would together then sit and talk but somehow it was not the same with the parents missing, there was not this feeling of wholesomeness… the children began to feel a kind of darkness creeping into the houses. They talked to their parents and the parents would add in more lamps or brighter lamps, but somehow the children did not feel content. They started spending more and more time outside the houses in the streets with their friends who felt the same way. They could not explain what it was that made them dissatisfied. They knew that their parents loved them and did almost everything that would take the house more beautiful and comfortable for them to live in. In this way the children grew into young people.

They continued meeting out in the streets and occasionally talked about how they felt the presence of darkness in their lives. They felt that something had gone wrong somewhere. They did not feel that home was home anymore even though every material comfort was there. Some did not want to disturb their parents who worked so hard, some felt that their parents would not understand them anyway and some just felt that they did not need to talk to their parents anymore…

I woke up at this point with a feeling of unease but I could not get back to sleep… you have seen that I have not been particularly jovial in the past week or so. I was worried because I could not understand what the dream meant for our people, but I knew that a dream ending with children and young people unhappy did not augur well for our people. However, I thought hard and prayed for inspiration to interpret the dream in the way it was meant.

This morning just as I was waking up, not quite fully awake I saw things crystal clear, as they were meant to be… the magic window is our soul. It is the window that shows us always where we should be headed so it is important that we keep attentive to it and the children are the voices and the knowledge and experience of the older generations that keep us alert when things are not going, as they should. Then I knew that the dream had been a blessing a forewarning for our people not to forget our souls in the quest of a comfortable life… it is the soul that leads us to the ultimate happiness.

What I wish to take with me from Denmark 

Kesang Renchen
Programme Officer 

The Policeman from Odense

I want to take away the policeman that I met in Odense, the policeman who would take the immigrant youth for fishing, the policeman who tried to understand what immigrant boys are made of.

“Surely not sugar and spice and all things nice,” said the terrified ordinary gloomy Danes.

The policeman was a father, a bother and a friend. To him the boys were not immigrants first. They were young boys troubled past, young boys who had been brought up on violence back home, young boys who knew what taking and giving life was all about. These were young boys who had looked death in the eyes.

“So how can they be judged same as the others? How can more violence pacify the violated? How can more punishment quieten those punished without reason? How can harsh imprisonment, intimacy with hardcore criminals, wash away the cruelty they have survived???”

Yes, I want to take away the policeman in Odense, the policeman who asked these questions from the depths of his heart, the heart that hears the silent cry of help, the silence that is tearing the boy to shreds.
They sit side by side in the riverbank, the boy that has seen death and the policeman from Odense. He reaches out gently to the boy next to him and feels the warmth of life and love struggling. Unseen tears and unheard words of love are shared in the silence by the riverside….
The World is one, the world is at peace…

A young Danish Woman...

She is young, only twenty five years old but wise much wiser that many Danes and Tibetans I have met of her age.

I want to take her away because she has the wisdom and courage to do things differently from other Danes of her age and even those older than her.

To her, her family is important. She wants to be a part of their lives and she wants them to be a part of her life…. She wants to have a say in their lives. The people around her tell her that she should not live their lives for them…she should not interfere with them but she feels that realistically her dad, mom, brother and sister are a part of her life and she cannot sit by and say, well they have to lead their own lives.

I think it is courageous and far sighted for a young woman to think along these lines when the society demands a different norm, whereby what you do, your residential address, the designer name dressing code is your identity…. in a society where the Christian belief in caring for each other was the seed for the democratic system but which is now hidden and lost in an infrastructure that has become too intricate and complicated…

I want to take away the Tibetan/Danish woman who…. in all her comfort, family ‘hyggeligte’, she continues to fight for justice in the international arena for the Tibetans.
I admire her because she is able to see through the temporary tranquilizing effect of modern amenities. She is also ensuring that her children are firmly rooted in what is most important in being a human. Her children and her husband are there by her side as she takes time away from work at home and office to keep the Tibetan issue alive in the hearts of people in the world.

I particularly pray that her efforts continue and that she becomes stronger in her mission because I have seen the opposite picture where the power of the woman and mother can manifest in the form of destruction…

I have met a woman who despises her roots; her culture which she feels is not ‘worthy’ and has adopted another culture which has a history of suppressing her people and her roots. But she has passed on this hatred to her seven year old daughter. She is today teaching her seven-year-old daughter the ‘right and propah’ rituals and the ‘real’ language. It is sad, sad because the daughter will either grow up to despise and be ashamed of her own roots or be ashamed of her mother…what a tragedy.

I want to take away a group of senior Danes who are working hard on keeping the Tibetan issue alive. They work with the Tibet Help, Tibet Charity, and Support Committee for Tibet. They are beautiful people who have lived a full life and are investing their invaluable experience and knowledge in showing the young Danes what solidarity means. Who can accuse the senior citizen of being old fashioned and set in their ways…. these people are the ones who were responsible for making the breakthrough and ensuring that democracy had a strong foundation…. and today they are continuing with their visionary mission for showing the Danes the road to a modern Danish society – a multicultural society where human beings are all equal regardless of their color, race and background.
 

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