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Street art is any form of art that has developed in a public place. Moreover, the art in the street to express the feeling is street art. Easiest and the most effective way to endure messages concerned to political ideology, social issues and confrontation on the street walls are street art. It has its own glory.  In this post modern era open platform is street. There are different forms of street art that includes graffiti artwork, stencil, stickers’ cot, street poster art. Street art has its own history too.  At first it was the stencils which have a parallel history with graffiti. It has become the instrument for socio-political activities for those who declared themselves as powerful agents to change existing society with heavy weight messages.  In this context Banksy, as an anonymous England based street artist, political activist, was tagged as the world's first street art disaster movie debut in 2010.   

It conveyed the quick message to all. That is why street art earned its place in the contemporary art world.  Some of the earliest expressions of street art where graffiti started sharing ideas up on the side of cars, trains walls which were the works of gangs of New York in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Street art and graffiti has become the ephemeral movement in the then period of time. The street has waved to different parts of the world from the western world. Among the street artists we have to take Bansky’s name that comes first. 

There are several famous street art among Berlin Street Art by JR pictured in Berlin on 16 April 2013. A man named Francisco Rodriguos da Silva, known as Nunca in the neighborhood of Sao Paulo on 7th April 2008 was the best mural artist. A mural of Nelson Mandela by Graffiti artist Mark 1 on 7th 2013 in cape town in South Africa is well known of that time. A mural by Del Kathryn Burton entitled ‘The Whole of Evening’ which adores the side of an apartment block is found as the glorious example of street art in central Melbourne on 8 July 2008. Till 2013 the street art was able to expose cultural phenomena from Lisbon, Moscow, Los Angeles, Bogota, Bethlehem, Palestine and the rest of the world.          

Back home before the people’s movement the wall of street of Kathmandu was just for the politicians.  It was a message to the public written ‘bandha’ and the slogans of politicians.  The wall was for the movie posters too.  Nonetheless, we see the same wall is packed by the art work today.  It shows the positive symptoms in society.  

The movement of Street Art in Nepal is not new though the visit of international street artist Bruno Levy in 2011 gave all the shape to the wall with colorful messages. His attempt to beautify the street of Kathmandu through the big project watched by our youths around the valley has become a source of inspiration to all.  Henceforth, at present youths are self reliant to attach to the wall giving the vivid expression in the socio political issues of postmodernism in Nepal. The satirical doctrine of Street Art has become the ultimate platform to warn the leaders that epoch like the tsunami.  

The graffiti is writing, painting in public places especially on the wall.  It is concerned with the permission of owners. If not permitted to draw on the wall it becomes like vandalism, otherwise with the permission it becomes street art. Moreover, most importantly graffiti with permission is mural art. Both are real pieces of art directly applied to the wall, so, I consider it as the applied form of Art at present, where I stand and view Laxman Shrestha as a street artist with his  team. He started his journey from Nepaljung as a young and energetic street artist.  

Emergence of youths on the wall has forced the government to take some actions to do something for the artist. Today’s artists, on one hand, come up with traditional art and its value along with contemporary art; whereas there is a great pressure on the artist because of the influence of globalization. Despite the confused circumstances the new theme of art has developed in the Nepali art field. They have picked up on socioeconomic conditions, unstable politics and psychic behavior of people as the agenda in front of common people. It has become the easiest way to convey the message to the citizens of a country. It was the dream of  artist Laxman Sherstha to have to come on the wall from different corners of the country. 

Despite the fact, there are several street artists amongst them Shraddha Sherstha, Kalo 1o1, Sadhu, ArtLab, Artudio and many more young artists who contributed in this field.  Nonetheless, Kathmandu Metropolitan city recently had agreements with Nepal Academy of Fine Art to complete numerous murals in the different parts of the city within mid-June 2024. Thanks to mayor Balen Shah declaring and finding the importance of Street Art has separated the budget to complete street art within the special areas of Kathmandu.

Notwithstanding all that national politics got people accustomed to, its shenanigans, backdoor dealings and secret negotiations, most of us were surprised by the lightning speed through which Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal shifted side and dropped the Nepali Congress from the government.

While it is true that there have been some misunderstandings and disconnects between the CPN (Maoist Center) and the Nepali Congress, few people really were expecting such a rapid change of government.

Once again, we got a confirmation that trust and commitment are not valued currencies in politics.

Rather what always prevails and, at the end count, are cynicism, unhealthy ambitions and a thirst for power for the sake of holding it and extracting the maximum benefits out of it, mostly for personal interest.

We do not need to spend many words on PM Dahal’s attitudes and capacity to retain power at any cost. Most of the citizens just got a strong validation of their feelings about him, a confirmation that the PM is a unique master at preservation and survival.

Probably, we should not even spend too much words on Rabi Lamichhane and his party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party.

Instead of staying out of power and leading a constructive politics of opposition, criticizing the government when it is due but also able to contribute with good ideas any time the occasion would arise, Lamichhane chose to jump and join the government.

It is all quite depressing if you think about it.

If you care about the future of the country, if you are genuinely interested in politics as a platform to change the society for better, then this gloomy scenario makes you really wonder about the future.

If political events stand as they are and continue in such a way, then it is obvious and clear that a sense of doom and hopelessness among people will prevail and it is already happening as we know.

Yet, is there any way to change this status quo and the way politics work?

As an observer to the vicissitudes of this nation, I believe that there are two venues to change the current state of affairs.

One idea is to copy, adjust, simplify and recalibrate some practices that occur in the United States of America.

The other instead is more about a system change in the way liberal democracy works not only in Nepal but also around the world.

While the latter is more complex, bold and certainly more visionary, the former instead could be more doable and practical, a way to ensure that only serious candidates get elected to the parliament.

Let’s start from here.

In the USA, as most readers know, there is a galaxy of so-called Political Action Committees, a complex and uniquely American way of supporting, mostly financially, certain candidates over others.

These tools, known as PACs, come in a variety of forms and they are correctly objectionable for their opacity.

Thinking about how such mechanisms could be improved and made more transparent and adapted to a totally different context go well beyond the scope of this piece.

Certainly, with all the alleged corruption that goes on in the electoral process in Nepal, it would be intriguing to explore ways to bring more accountability to the system.

PACs could perhaps offer an imperfect but more morally acceptable form of reigning malpractices in the system but my interest here is to focus on just some of their aspects that have less to do with the financing of campaigns.

The idea is that citizens of the country could form groups, even informal, to assess not only the moral and ethical leadership of running candidates but also their credentials, their expertise.

Regardless of the parties for which they will run, aspiring members of the Parliament at federal and provincial levels but also those proposing themselves to lead smaller local governments should be assessed based on their own character and performances.

If they are serious, competent, well-prepared and have good ideas, then such candidates should be made more visible, more prominent.

Citizens united even in small groups could do that.

Because the electoral game in Nepal is not so clean and fair, at the end of the day, we all know that what really matters is the “dough”, the money that moves around to win over people’s votes.

Instead, citizens, also based on their political preferences and ideologies, should be able to identify serious and promising candidates and support their campaign.

In the USA, there are many types of platforms, including Emily’s List that is a PAC focused on electing progressive democrat women.

What is captivating is not the financial support, the money put in the electoral campaigns throughout the States, though they are very substantial but requires a specific legal framework that is found only in the USA.

The most interesting part is the capacity-building, the non-financial support that the candidates “selected” by the organization, can count on.

This technical support can really make the difference in preparing a candidate to run a successful campaign.

The training offered vary from “Defining your values” to “Delivering your message” to “Effective campaigning”, just to offer an idea.

The bottom line is that there should be a way to ensure, also in a nation like Nepal, that more able, honest, integrity driven politicians are supported to emerge and win.

Even without a big “infrastructure” in place like the one of Emily’s List with its ambitious mandate of providing political competencies to its candidates and its mission to get elected only a certain typology of them, people in different constituencies in Nepal could come together to “study” and evaluate those running for office.

This could represent a much simpler way to ensure that the best candidates get elected, a bit like what happens in a caucus, another uniquely American mechanism used during the primaries, where citizens gather to discuss and choose their preferred candidates.

Again, there is no need to copy the whole mechanisms here mentioned, this won’t be practical either.

Yet there should be ways, even informal and within the current electoral system, that enable citizens to focus on picking candidates for their quality, because they deserve getting elected.

A citizen might not vote for a serious and competent candidate because of her ideology but the same citizen should be in a position to identify her best option according to her way of thinking.

Obviously, these ideas also provide an opening for more independent candidates, even if, running as an independent, should not be seen as a default guarantee of seriousness and wisdom.

The other option, something that deserves a full column on its own, would instead consist in rethinking the current liberal democracy framework.

I would not certainly change it for a dictatorship of the proletariat but would instead consider offering people more room to participate in the decision-making.

I am referring to forms of deliberative democracy that would not replace nor substitute elections, the core of the current liberal system.

Instead, more deliberations would allow citizens to decide and complement the work being done by elected politicians. But this is another story.

Ultimately citizens should not get resigned to what has been happening in politics with all its downsides. Forming new parties might not be the best way forward but empowering citizens with a stronger saying throughout the electoral process could instead be one.

Views are personal

Constitutionally and politically, women are empowered in the days we live in. In Nepal, the constitution and other prevailing laws are in place to protect and promote the rights of women. The constitutional arrangements ensure one-third representation of women in the legislature, which is a major breakthrough. However, it’s not the end but a means to achieve gender equality.

To argue that countries like Nepal have, exclusively, felt the burn of gender-based discrimination and they have to adopt progressive laws to uproot inequalities would be a futile claim. Developed countries like the United States (US) too have experienced gender inequality.

The American case

In the case of Bradwell v State of Illinois (1872), Justice Bradley of the US Supreme Court held that the natural and proper timidity and delicacy, which belongs to the female sex, evidently makes it unfit for many of the occupations in civic life. The paramount destiny and mission of the women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of the wife and mother. This is the law of the creator.

In this case, the state of Illinois denied Bradwell, a woman lawyer, an advocate’s license. The US Supreme Court (SC) argued that such a restriction from Illinois was not in contravention to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Bradwell was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1890.

In Hoyt v Florida in 1961, the US SC upheld a law placing a woman on the jury list if she made a special request because as put by Harland, J, “a woman is still regarded as the center of the home and family life.”  

Departing from the previous position, the US SC in the case of Muller v Oregon (1908) was of the view that the woman’s physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantageous position for subsistence. It is still true that in the struggle for subsistence, she is not an equal competitor with her brother. She will still be where some legislation to protect her seems necessary to secure a real equality or right.

Nevertheless, the instances show that the judicial department in the US has interpreted the laws progressively as well as regressively. In June 2022, in a devastating decision that will reverberate for generations, the US Supreme Court has abandoned its duty to protect fundamental rights and overturned Roe v Wade (1973), ruling there is no constitutional right to abortion. The ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization abandons nearly 50 years of precedent and marks the first time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right.

In Roe case, it was held that the specific guarantee of “liberty” in the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual privacy that includes the right to abortion prior to fetal viability.

Nepal’s case

Women across the world have fought against all types of abuses and become more aware of their rights. These prejudices led the world community to pass gender sensitive domestic as well as international laws. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which was adopted by the United Nations in 1979 and ratified by 189 states on 3 Sept 1981, is a treaty that is essential for assessing the government’s progress in eradicating discrimination. This treaty, which Nepal ratified in 1991, is recognized as a strong international agreement to protect gender equality and lessen violence against women.

Acknowledging CEDAW, the drafters of the 2015 Constitution of Nepal have floated ample provisions to ensure the protection of women’s rights through broad and universal principles of equality and participation. The preamble of the Constitution pledges to end all forms of discrimination based on gender. In a similar vein, the equality clauses and affirmative action clauses of the Constitution seek to ensure adequate representation of women in public life. To be specific, Article 38 provisions that all the rights relating to women shall be the fundamental rights. These rights include equal right to lineage, right to safe motherhood, and right to reproduction. In addition to this, Nepal has set aside 33 percent of seats for women in the legislature.

Article 70 envisages that “while conducting election of President and Vice-president under this Constitution, the election shall be held so as to represent different genders or communities.” Interestingly, a similar arrangement has been made for the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the municipality. In the case of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative, one of them must be a woman and so is the case with the Chairperson and Vice-chairperson of the National Assembly.  

This arrangement endeavors to press forward gender sensitive laws and policies. The reservation benefits ensured to women are there to supplement the principle of proportional inclusion.

The inclusivity and diversity are the core focus of the 2015 constitution,” argues Prof Bipin Adhikari in his book, Salient Features of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015.

Way forward

The traditional ideas of society, culture and rights have undergone a significant change the world over. While there is still more to be done to protect women’s rights, there has been significant progress toward this end.

Change happens gradually. Nepal’s Constitution gives the government an enhanced role to establish and enact initiatives, programs and regulations that will safeguard and advance the rights of women and children. A beginning in the right direction is having one-third representation of women at legislative spectrum.

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Democracy is something that would give the weak the same chance as the strong.” Nepal’s constitution contains progressive provisions that support the cause of women. But passing fair rules without enforcing them in the letter and spirit would only be cosmetic.  Prof Adhikari in his book, From Exclusion to Inclusion: Crafting a new legal regime in Nepal rightly observes: Nepal’s journey towards inclusion depends, to a great extent, on the quality of democracy and constitutionalism it will achieve on the foundation of its constitution.

Summing up, the mere glorification of the laws and celebration of International Women’s Day (without implementing rules) would be a mockery of democracy.

India has refrained from commenting on the recent political developments in Nepal, describing them as ‘internal matters’ of Nepal, and reaching out to senior members of a nascent Cabinet on a hectic day.

At  a meeting with Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, India’s Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava said India’s position on Nepal remains unchanged. The change in the coalition is an internal matter of Nepal, so it does not affect India’s views and position on Nepal, he said.  

Ambassador Srivastava also paid a courtesy call on newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha, congratulating the latter and extending best wishes to him.

During the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DPM Shrestha and Ambassador Srivastava discussed various topics of bilateral and mutual interest, said spokesperson for the ministry, Amrit Bahadur Rai. The topics included ways to strengthen bilateral ties and timely completion of development projects underway in Nepal with Indian assistance.