King Gyanendra finally addressed the people. The result was less than miraculous. In it he promised to return executive power to the people and asked the Seven Party Alliance to name a new prime minister. Meanwhile, the current government would continue to function until that happens. Nothing about giving up his power. Nothing about restoring the elected parliament. Nothing actually addressing the demands of the people. There will be no rewriting of the constitution and there will be no bringing of the Maoists into the mainstream. What the King has offered them is going back to square one. Simply put, the hundred thousand people who took to the streets defying a shoot-on-sight curfew and the rest of the country that heeded the national strike for the past two weeks will not have that.

The strategy of the King is two-fold: to placate the protestors and placate the international community. All he wants is for people to go back to their daily lives and stop challenging his place as monarch. He also wants the international community to stop pressuring him. He thinks he can fool everyone all the time. The former get it. But the latter?…

Nepal’s king hands power to the people — Mail & Guardian

Nepal’s king says handing power to the people — Reuters

Nepal’s king call for vote, return of power to ‘countrymen’ — Bloomberg

Nepal king vows to hand over power — Al Jazeera

Nepal king announces he’ll hand over power to people — The Hindu

Nepal’s king promises to hand power back to people — International Herald Tribune

It seems to me that the international media doesn’t seem to grasp the actual particulars of Nepali politics and what the King actually said. Giving power back to the people is a nice soundbyte or quote, but it doesn’t accurately portray what he offered.

The problem when the media is fooled is that the rest of the people in the world end up being fooled as well, unless they know better. Most don’t. Even the European Union might not, as it has already jumped the gun and welcomed the King’s pledge. All this does is legitimize his move when it really doesn’t have any at all.

The Seven Party Alliance, however, has said it’s not good enough. They will continue organizing resistence to the King even now. With the security forces allowing people to gather in their hundreds of thousands along the outskirts of Kathmandu and other areas, it won’t be long before they march to the royal palace. Expect the people power to continue.

*****

– Paramendra Bhagat is clearly unhappy with both the King and the media. He wants more than what the King says he will give.

– United! We Blog is a group blog of Nepali journalists. They found the King’s message deceptive and believe that he is just trying to cling to power.

Phalano is a photoblog that has been taking pictures of the events day-by-day.