Compare the popular struggle of Nepal and bolivia
Answers
Nepal became a constitutional monarchy in 1990. King Birendra, who had accepted this transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, was killed in a mysterious massacre of the royal family in 2001. King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal, took advantage of the weakness and unpopularity of the democratically elected government. In February 2005, the king dismissed the then Prime Minister and restored monarchy. All the major political parties in the parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and called for a four-day strike in Kathmandu. People defied curfew and more than one lakh people gathered almost every day to demand restoration of democracy.
On 24th April 2006, the last day of the ultimatum, the king was forced to concede all the three demands. (a) Restoration of parliament. (b) Power to an all-party government (c) New Constituent Assembly.
The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new Prime Minister of the interim government. The restored parliament met and passed laws taking away most of the powers of the king.
Struggle in Bolivia -
Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America. The World Bank pressurized the government to give its control of municipal water supply for the city of Cochabamba to a multi-national company. The company immediately increased the prices of water by four times. This led to a spontaneous popular protest. In January 2000, a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders organised a successful four-day general strike in the city. The government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off. Yet nothing happened. Another strike followed in April and the government imposed martial law. But the power of the people forced the officials of the multi-national company to flee the city and made the government concede to all the demands of the protesters. The contract with the company was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rates. This is known as Bolivia's water war.
Similarities -
1) Both the struggles are instances of political conflicts that led to popular struggles.
2) In both the cases the struggle involved mass mobilisation.
3) There was a critical role of political organisations in both the cases.
Differences -
1) The movement in Nepal was to restore the democracy while the struggle in Bolivia involved claims on an elected democratic government.
2) The struggle in Nepal was related with the foundation of the country's politics while the struggle in Bolivia was related with one specific policy.
The movement in Nepal took place to establish democracy, while the struggle in Bolivia reflected people's expectations of the elected democratic government.The popular struggle in Bolivia was about one specific unpopular decision taken by the government (privatization of water supply), while the struggle
The movement in Nepal was to restore the democracy while the struggle in Bolivia involved claims on an elected democratic government. 2) The struggle in Nepal was related with the foundation of the country's politics while the struggle in Bolivia was related with one specific policy.
Popular struggles and movement meansthose agitation or revolts done by the people to get their demands meet and this demands are of a greater interest and are demands for the welfare of most of the people in a country or for a nationwide cause.