Nepal: Thousands Take to the Streets Against the Evictions by the Government
Featured image: Landless peasants and poor workers organized a large demonstration and national conference in Butwal.
In Nepal, the Balendra Shah-led government has forcefully evicted 15,316 people living on the banks of the river in Kathmandu, destroying homes with bulldozers accompanied by security forces numbered in the thousands. In response to these crimes of the government, poor workers and landless peasants have organized demonstrations throughout the country against the evictions, demanding compensation, alternative living accommodations, and justice, while condemning the criminal demolition of their of homes.
The newly formed government of Nepal has shown yet again its anti-popular character by attacking the right to housing of the people. The Balendra Shah-led government already attacked the democratic rights of the students, as we reported.
In the areas of Thapathali, Gaerigaun, Manohara, Kalopul, Balkhu, Bansighat, Shankhamul, Kalimati, Balaju, Swayambhu, Gaushala, Dhobi Khola, Tenzing Chowk, Krishna Mandir, Kapan and Sattale of Kathmandu, bulldozers have been used in a criminal attempt by the State to evict the residents of the settlements along the Kathmandu river. According to the data from 25th of April to May 4th from the District Administration Office of Kathmandu, 16 settlements were cleared using bulldozers, and 15,316 people from 2,501 families have been forcibly displaced. The government reportedly promised that an alternative living situation would be provided to the evicted families within 15 days, but one month later, no alternatives have been provided.
After the State-led destruction of the houses in these settlements, measures have been taken by the families to rebuild their destroyed homes, with 2,687 homes being erected, 890 of them being solid structures, and 1,797 being temporary structures, like tents. Other families were forced to relocate, while others have been placed in holding centers by the government, which have been criticized widely as treating its inhabitants like prisoners. Evicted families have been saying that, around 1.2 million families live in similar conditions in the country.
These criminal eviction measures have been met with widespread rage from the people across the country, as a mass-movement is brewing against the ongoing evictions, based on a broad front of poor workers, landless peasants, freed Kamaiya, (Kamaiya and Kamlari were feudal systems of bonded debt slavery in Nepal, which has since been abolished after protests erupted in the early 2000’s) people affected by floods and many popular, peasant and democratic organizations throughout the country.
On May 4th Revolutionary Squatters’ Association Nepal organized a march and protest meeting under the slogan “Landless peasants, freed Kamaiya, poor workers and those affected by floods are one, justice to the displaced!” demanding that proper settlement be granted to the displaced settlers. The march continued to the district administration.
On May 14th a protest rally was carried out at the Maitighar Mandala monument in Kathmandu, organized by the United National Landless Peasants Front under the main slogan, “Guarantee the rehabilitation and compensation of landless peasants and poor workers.” many other slogans were raised during the rally, such as “The holding centers are a scam, we do not accept displacement!”, “Stop the forced evictions, Stop the bulldozer terror!” and “Tear down injustice, not homes!”
After the demonstration on May 14th , another demonstration was carried out in the landless peasant and poor worker settlements of Shankhamul and Manohara, who have been inhabited since 1973. Similarly, the leaders of the front condemned the conditions that the displaced were forced to live under in the State-mandated holding centers.
On May 16th, poor workers and landless peasants organized a large demonstration and national conference in Butwal, denouncing the criminal evictions of the government and the havoc wreaked by using bulldozers in settlements where they have been living for years without arranging alternative accommodations. The demonstration and conference were organized by the Nepal Landless Peasants and Poor Workers Struggle Committee, Rupandehi. Organizers stated that “thousands of people from more than 22 districts with significant populations of landless peasants and poor workers participated in the protest”.
The Nepal Landless Peasants and Poor Worker Struggle Committee demanded to implement The Land Act, which had made it possible to provide permanent land to peasants who have been living in an irregular manner since 2009. The current government disregarded this act and declared the evicted areas as risk zones and prepared a legal framework for the eviction of those living there.
On May 17th a massive demonstration was carried by and led by the Joint Struggle Committee in Butwal, in the Lumbini Province in western Nepal. Several slogans were raised during the demonstration, such as “Stop the barbaric fascist State terror against the squatters”; “Defend national independence”; “Provide compensation for the demolished homes of settlements”; and “Down with Yankee imperialism”.
All of the pictures used in the article are taken from Moolbato.
