People power wins democracy back for Nepal!

Just before midnight yesterday, King Gyanendra went on national television and proclaimed to the entire country that he acknowledged the the power of both the political parties and the people, apologized for the death of fourteen protestors at the hands of security forces, and is reinstating immediately the parliament that he dissolved in 2002 before disbanding the institution completely just last year.

This is a major victory for the people of Nepal! They went on a planned national strike exactly 19 days ago. Day by day it grew stronger until everything had shut down. They had surrounded Kathmandu in the hundreds of thousands, blocking the “ring road” highway that circles it, but prevented from marching on the palace by security forces. However, today was supposed to be different. After the King earlier failed to meet their demands, they planned to march in the millions, storm past the security forces, and overrun the palace. If the King hadn’t begun acting like a king soon, he probably would have been killed.

In the year that I have covered Nepal, from the dissolution of parliament until the April Revolution, I have never failed to be impressed. The Orange Revolution may have filled the streets of Kiev for weeks on end, but in Nepal the entire country shut down completely. That they were able to organize so quickly, in such large numbers, in a country much more impoverished than Ukraine, is very impressive. Then again, it wasn’t exactly velvet either.

Parliament will convene on April 28 and begin working out the roadmap that the Seven Party Alliance has worked out. For the first time, all of the major actors in the country agree on at least one thing: the necessity of reworking the constitution so that it is more democratic and includes everyone. Even the Maoists, who agree with the idea of a constituent assembly completely. Now that the King has been subdued, if the Maoists give up their arms in exchange for being brought in to the mainstream, then Nepal will have a pact among the most important political groups that can, in the very least, bring them democracy. Pacting is the most effective ways for democratic transitions to consolidate, as while the political elites may not agree on specific policies, they at least agree that the country should be democratic. That’s what Nepal looks to be shaping up to be.

The only problem is that the Maoists still don’t trust the King and have rejected his offer, calling on people to continue blockading the capital until the demands of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution and the establishment of a republic are met. But it is important to note that one of the two Maoist leaders, Prachanda, said that they should continue protesting until the political parties do it. Given the wide support for this now among the population, this is very likely to happen anyway, as that’s part of the opposition’s roadmap. I very much doubt that the population will heed the Maoists’ call to continue striking, and the huge protest that had been planned will instead be a victory parade. The joyous atmosphere that the April Revolution was missing all along will finally be there.

Bringing the Maoists into the mainstream will be tough, but when the constitution is rewritten, the most important thing is that there are provisions to prevent the siezing of absolute power once again. First of all, the King must not as currently provided by considered the Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The only reason this revolution lasted so long was because of the army’s loyalty to the King and lack of control by civilian forces. The King must also be relegated to, in the very least, a ceremonial role. Once the Maoists see that the political parties do have control and are making a good-faith effort to reach out and build an inclusive nation, they may well yet give up their arms. As I write this, the parties have already declared that they will call for a ceasefire.

But aside from all that… congratulations to the people of Nepal!

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Paramendra Bhagat is absolutely overjoyed, and lists what the country needs to do in order to establish democracy.

United! We Blog takes a look at the speech, analyzing what is to come and notes the happiness on the streets as people celebrate their victory into the night.

Check out all the Yahoo! photos here.