ROAD BLOG AHEAD

Monday 24 April

There’s a hush today throughout Kathmandu. Not so much a pause as it is a gathering in, a pulling together, getting ready for tomorrow. The parties - and the people - are calling on everyone in the Kathmandu Valley to turn up on the ring road for the biggest demonstration yet, a show of solidarity that cannot be ignored. Expected turnout is anywhere from half a million to over two million. People are walking in from outlying districts to be ready.

No word yet from the Palace, other than to continue to clamp down with curfews which are only pissing people off more and being ignored. In fact, the closed shops due to the strike seem to be the single biggest sign that something is amiss here - people are paying attention to that. They no longer much heed the government edicts. Mostly, I think, from what they are saying to me, because they KNOW that the monarchy will fall, that Gyanendra will have to give up. The question among the populace is no longer IF, it’s WHEN. Following that, the question is: how much? How much blood will need to be shed? How much will need to be endured before those holding the reins of ostensible power finally realize that they are perpetuating a sham?

Everyone is making preparations for tomorrow. Even as the kids play cricket in the streets and ladies in bright saris run about hitting badminton birdies, someone in ach family is getting ready. Even those tourists who have not yet evacuated are getting ready. Some are getting ready to leave. Our young Israeli friend, Shachal, is getting on a plane this morning, in quite a hurry to be out of here. Others are digging in.

The rooms next door are occupied by three young Brits who have just returned from helping organize demonstrations in Pokara. They’re surprised by the violence here. Apparently the army and police were much less hostile where they’ve been. Although their friend, Karen, did get arrested and jailed for passing out leaflets urging the army to join the democratic resistence! They are planning to go out at first light to walk to the ring road and join the throngs there. Brave kids with some real common sense, they’re brainstorming for safety issues, packing food and water, considering which shoes to wear. I’m impressed - most of the injies have been purely naïve as they go into the protests.

I doubt there is a sector of Kathmandu society that is not edgy today. The US embassy has evacuated most of its staff and is urging its citizens to leave as soon as possible. It could be that they know something, it could be that they’re just nervous and it could be… My guess… That it’s a kind of ploy, a lever to make a statement to the king. The official statements from the ambassador make it clear that the levels of violence coming from the government are unacceptable to the US.

Everyone is waiting, biding there time, regrouping and saving their energy for tomorrow. Small groups of young men and women move down the street defiantly, ignoring the curfew, ignoring the army. These are the ones who say that they will die for the cause of democracy, for the good of the Nepales people. They have become determined that nothing less than a true representative democracy in which their voices and their votes count, will do now. They’re standing behind this, committed to seeing it through, to putting the monarchy behind them. They appear to be willing to use any means necessary. Tomorrow will tell. People are ready to go for broke. Though nobody is actually saying it out loud, everyone knows: tomorrow we storm the palace!

Sometime after 11:30 pm Dancing in the Streets!

Apparently even the king got the message that Tuesday was to be the next showdown between revolutionaries and royalists. One can only say, better late than never with cautious optimism.

At 11:30 pm Kathmandu time, King Gyanendra went on television to make a new speech. Literally the eleventh hour LOL! Perhaps he knew it was a matter of saving, not just his dignity, but probably a good portion of his own skin because he reinstated Parliament just like that. Others will do far better analysis of his speech than I will, but suffice it to say that he has come a good way down the road in the past 72 hours.

Will it be enough? Will it stem the flood of anti-monarchy sentiment hat’s been released from its gates? I doubt it. I think that the events of this past year - and especially these past weeks - have fundamentally changed the Nepali character. No longer worshipful of authority, they are seeing how much power there is in raising one’s voice. We’ll see if this is overall a good thing I expect.

In any event, it’s apparently being greeted with joy and enthusiasm. Sitting here in the balcony, the previously silent night is full of the sound of whistles and cheers and excitement. People are pouring out into the streets in their nightclothes, with their children. They are waking to see what the commotion is and, once awake, adding their voices to the cheering throngs. Good news, good news the cheers say. We won, we won! Not perhaps the entire war, but certainly this round. The king has backed down, has actually given something of value. He has also, in a round about way, apologized for the bloodshed of the past weeks - or at least expressed both awareness and regret. One does, however, note the incredibly pinched and sour look on the man’s face as he says these things. Although there is great joy and celebration in the streets of Kathmandu tonight, I doubt that there is much happiness and certainly no joy in the royal palace.

Tables have turned. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.