The last couple of years has seen the Plaza being used by the Nepali diaspora, too, and always for political protests. However, this year’s Nepali rally at the Plaza was supposed to be about climate change.
The event took place on Tuesday afternoon, September 21. It is unclear, however, what, if any, purpose it served.[break]
Who were at the event
Minister of Forest and Soil Conservation Deepak Bohara, Minister of Home Affairs, Bhim Rawal, and several Everest summiteers brought from Nepal, amongst others. About 50-75 people might have attended the event, of which only a handful of them were non-Nepalis.
The point of the event
If the event was targeted at world leaders, it proposed nothing, and was extremely weak in substance. If it was aimed at the Nepali diaspora, it offered nothing about what Nepal’s domestic and international positions and policies are on climate issues. It was unclear if the event even had a point at all.
What they said
For most parts, the stale statements about the impact of climate change on the Himalaya were of the caliber that one might expect to hear in high school classrooms, or read in the children’s “green” section in newspapers and magazines. Not at a rally supposedly geared at the international community.
Imported Everest summiteers and media hogs
When a New York Times reporter approached one of the Sherpas who had come from Nepal, the reporter wasn’t even sure the person he was approaching was a Sherpa because he looked western, like a non-Nepali. After confirming the person was indeed a Sherpa, the reporter diligently noted his name. Then the Sherpa in question mentioned he was an ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund, but the reporter seemed neither impressed nor interested. In his subsequent article for the Times, the “ambassador’s” name was merely listed alongside 13 other Sherpas who were at the event. In any case, WWF did not seem to be affiliated to this event in any way.
Perhaps wanting to highlight his “ambassadorship” in hopes of it translating to an interview can be excused. After all, several speakers and participants at the event were walking around and asking non-Nepalis with notepads and cameras if they were journalists. If they were, the next question usually was: “Do you want to interview me?”
The bigger question, however, is why bring Everest summiteers from Nepal to New York for this rally when there are already so many of them who reside in New York or the region? The event started off on a negative note in Nepal itself, with charges that Minister of Forest and Soil Conservation Deepak Bohara was charging money to Everest summiteers by promising to take them to New York for this event. Then came the news that 14 people who were supposed to come for the event were denied their US Visa, and Everest summiteers who actually already lived in New York and the region were planning to boycott the event altogether.
The problem with Minister Bohara
The following night, at Thakali Kitchen, a Nepali restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, a group of Nepalis could be heard talking about the rally over dinner and drinks.
“There were problems of all kinds,” a person involved in putting together the event tried to explain. “People even had problems with Minister Bohara being there because of his [royalist] political baggage and the whole corruption issues.”
The problem with Minister Bohara, however, is not merely his corrupt legacy or his political baggage of being formerly a monarchist. After all, every political party has an opposition, and every politician in Nepal has a legacy of corruption, be it a personal one or their respective party’s. The real problem with Minister Bohara is the fact that he seems quite terrible at his actual job as the Minister of Forest and Soil Conservation.
Timber smuggling and rampant deforestation has remained unabated, if not increased, during his tenure. Forest officials have been publicly found to be indulgent in corruption, and his dealings with FECOFUN, whose network includes over 15,000 community forest user groups, has been more aggressive than tactful, and could yield more trouble than real solutions to better manage Nepal’s forests.
So what was the “Save the Himalayas” rally?
Perhaps it was merely an excuse as well as a quick-fix justification for the trip to New York for those who came from Nepal. Perhaps it had good intentions that never got translated or articulated. After all, the one major media coverage the event got, in the Times, was in the Metro/City beat about Everest Summiteers in New York, and not about climate change in its Environment section. It didn’t even mention the presence of Nepali Ministers there. It’s hard to say what this rally was about.
The only thing that is clear is that it was not worth the carbon footprint incurred by its delegates, or the resources mobilized to make the event happen.
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