Unregistered
15th April 2005, 02:07 PM
Long story in The Nepali Times # 242 (http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue242/tourism.htm) now.
Close encounters in the Himalaya
Trekking through Nepal’s changing political landscape
LUBA SVRCINA in DOLAKHA
Being from a former communist east European country, I decided if I was going to give them money I may as well find out what they’d do with it. How did they propose to fund the promised free education and medical care with the money they collected from trekkers? If they want to play Robin Hood, take money from the rich and give it to the poor, why were they destroying the tourism industry? Governments collect taxes from the people for their operating budget. How can they tax people who are subsistence farmers and have no cash flow to start with? History has shown that communist systems have failed everywhere it has been tried, why do they think Nepal will be a miraculous exception?
The young Maoist seemed baffled and at a loss for words. Each question was punctuated by a long silence. An hour and a half into my harangue and he was questioning his own ideology. I told him I fled communism to Canada and was a refugee. He couldn’t imagine a white person could be a ‘saranarthi’. I gave him a fraction of the money demanded and made him promise to leave us alone.
When the first gentleman found out I was a refugee, he flooded me with questions. Was there a military solution? I said no. They looked at me, stunned. I added that I was a Buddhist and believed in ahimsa. Two weeks later, I learned that the reserved fellow was a Maoist making sure that the first one was not a government spy. That’s why (like in my old country) they always come in twos.
Close encounters in the Himalaya
Trekking through Nepal’s changing political landscape
LUBA SVRCINA in DOLAKHA
Being from a former communist east European country, I decided if I was going to give them money I may as well find out what they’d do with it. How did they propose to fund the promised free education and medical care with the money they collected from trekkers? If they want to play Robin Hood, take money from the rich and give it to the poor, why were they destroying the tourism industry? Governments collect taxes from the people for their operating budget. How can they tax people who are subsistence farmers and have no cash flow to start with? History has shown that communist systems have failed everywhere it has been tried, why do they think Nepal will be a miraculous exception?
The young Maoist seemed baffled and at a loss for words. Each question was punctuated by a long silence. An hour and a half into my harangue and he was questioning his own ideology. I told him I fled communism to Canada and was a refugee. He couldn’t imagine a white person could be a ‘saranarthi’. I gave him a fraction of the money demanded and made him promise to leave us alone.
When the first gentleman found out I was a refugee, he flooded me with questions. Was there a military solution? I said no. They looked at me, stunned. I added that I was a Buddhist and believed in ahimsa. Two weeks later, I learned that the reserved fellow was a Maoist making sure that the first one was not a government spy. That’s why (like in my old country) they always come in twos.