Nepal Unites peace protest in Bagmati Bridge

Sangam Silpakar,

Tripureshwor, July 14

Nepal Unites, a facebook movement for change, protested in Bagmati Bridge against the government pressurizing them to end the constitution in time.

The peaceful protest carried out by waving of the national flag and displaying various slogans as ‘Jyala pura liyau, aba sambidhan deu’, ‘Mero Nepal, Mero dayitwa’, ‘Nepali bana, nepali bhana, bachau Nepal lai’, ‘tapai hami nai nalage kasle?’. The protest began at 5:30 pm and lasted for an hour.

Anil Chitrakar, social entrepreneur and founder of social unites says, “We are trying to unite Nepal and everybody is excited about it but what really unites Nepal?” He further adds, “It can be anything, football, music or Demi Moore. The thing is we want to unite Nepal but in peaceful way.”

Nepal Unites is a campaign started through virtual network and has spread in other districts as well as other countries like USA, UK where Nepalis are living. It organized pressure rallies in the run up to the May 28 CA extension. It has been organizing protests and rallies against strike. Though its short term goal is to complete the constitution in time, its long term goal is to unite Nepalis to bring positive change and ultimately peace in the country. It has another protest in July 15 in Bagmati Bridge. They plan to paint the walls of the bridge and make it political slogans free.

A student who was present as protestor, Sagar Prasain says, “We are here for a silent protest and it is a silent speak campaign. We are working for our country to establish peace. We are lobbying to complete the constitution in time.”

“We are here because of the half way mark for the constitution to be made. So we are here to protest for the accountability of the politicians. This campaign will help to bring out the city, the responsibility to stand out, stand out, speak up and showing up. That needs to happen”, Ujwal Thapa, member of Nepal Unites says.

Thapa further says, “It’s time for us to stand up and voice out what we want to say. It is also to inform leaders that citizens are not silent. They are speaking out and becoming responsible and they are asking out to do your job.”

The campaign’s main motive is to unite all Nepalis for change by sharing ideas. The innovative ways that appeal young people like music, football and any other ways that helps to unite Nepalis.

Social media

With the boom of technology, social media are taking lots of space in the digital arena. These days,we find it surprising when we hear an urban youth not connected with facebook or twitter.

Social media such as facebook, twitter, blogs, etc are playing dominant role in web world. People would not have been using internet 24/7, had there been no social media.Earlier it was used for getting connected with each other but now it is used for marketing and promotion of certain products or services. Corporate houses, which used to block these sites, has started making it the default pages. It was internet that had made the world so small, global village but now, these media has made it more smaller and easier to get connected with each other.

Facebook has benefited to individuals and organizations. It has not only helped to promote ideas or products, but also has worked to generate revenue. But as the saying goes ,'good things come with bad ones', it has brought lots of problems alongwith. Though it is banned for children below 13, they are still using it. Afterall its the virtual world, who would come and check the age of the user. Besides, it has also raised the question of identity. It is not always true that the user name is real. It has also created crimes.

Everything has positive and negative effects. It depends on us to choose the right or wrong ones.