• “We want to live together, not in pieces.” Notably, it is estimated that 10 percent of the Nepali population (around 3 million) migrates abroad at any given time.
• “We aspire to transform our country into one like Denmark, free from corruption,”
• “We hope to elect a compassionate and diligent leader who will enhance the beauty of our nation in every way.”

• Gyanendra quickly demonstrated his authoritarian approach. By 2005, he had dissolved parliament, suspended all political parties, and declared a state of emergency. Media outlets faced censorship, and numerous protesters were imprisoned.
• ‘No More Kings,’ and sang until our throats bled.”
• The strength of this movement ultimately compelled Gyanendra to restore parliament.

• Two years later, in May 2008, the monarchy was officially abolished. As the royal flag was lowered, crowds erupted in cheers and waved banners proclaiming “Loktantra Zindabad” (Long live democracy). The palace was transformed into a museum, and a republic was formally declared.

• In the early 2000s, when left movements across much of the world were retreating under the weight of neoliberal triumphalism and the collapse of old socialist experiments, Nepal offered a rare spark of hope. The Maoist insurgency, followed by the mass uprising that toppled the monarchy, seemed to breathe new life into the global left. Here was a small Himalayan country where peasants, workers, and students had forced open the doors of history, establishing a republic at the very moment when socialism elsewhere appeared exhausted.

• The abolition of the monarchy positioned communists at the core of the new republic. Maoists, emerging from a decade of armed struggle, alongside the Unified Marxist-Leninists (UML), dominated parliament. They promised a “new Nepal” that would provide land for the landless, jobs for the youth, and equality for Dalits and minorities. Guerrillas, once clad in fatigues, now occupied seats in parliament, assuring voters that their sacrifices had not been in vain.

• “It was like watching history bend in our direction,” said Bhim, a former Maoist fighter. “We held placards that read, ‘Power to the People,’ and we truly believed it.” However, that belief quickly transformed into bitterness. A period of political paralysis marked by a series of betrayals unfolded. The process of drafting the constitution dragged on for years as political parties fought over power-sharing arrangements, all while corruption continued to spread. The three major political parties, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), the Maoists, and the Nepali Congress, have been involved in a power struggle since the country’s transition to a new republic.

• In 2018, the Maoists and the UML united to form the Nepal Communist Party, led by K. P. Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as “Prachanda,” who shared leadership and commanded a significant majority. The masses enthusiastically welcomed this development, as demonstrated by placards at rallies proclaiming “Stability at Last.” However, Oli’s decision to dissolve parliament in 2020 shattered that optimism, plunging the country into a new wave of instability and governance challenges. Protesters returned to the streets wielding signs that read, “This Is Not Why We Abolished the King.” Despite the Supreme Court’s ultimate overturn of Oli’s action, the public’s trust had already suffered significant damage. Shortly thereafter, the party itself fractured under the weight of personal egos and legal disputes.

• “Every time we think we have leaders, they betray us,” said Rita, a garment worker. “Our placards continue to change, but the message remains the same: stop stealing our future.” Beyond the political drama, daily life has worsened. Unemployment has soared. While migrant remittances have become lifelines, they have also drained villages of their youth. In Kathmandu, luxury apartments are being built even as rural schools close. Poverty remains persistently high.

• Pushpa, a mother from Chitwan, displayed her worn placard to a reporter, stating, “My children want their father, not remittances.” For her, the failure of the republic is a deeply personal matter. The pandemic intensified feelings of anger as patients suffocated outside hospitals due to a lack of oxygen. Widespread corruption led to the breakdown of vaccine procurement, leaving families to bury their loved ones without receiving any medical care. “We carried placards that read, ‘We Can’t Breathe,’ even before the police resorted to tear gas,” recalled Laxmi, a shopkeeper who lost her father in 2021.

11 more annotations...

• “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.”
• These landowners are idle, and I might, therefore, be expected to praise them. Unfortunately, their idleness is rendered possible only by the industry of others; indeed their desire for comfortable idleness is historically the source of the whole gospel of work. The last thing they have ever wished is that others should follow their example
• The conception of duty, speaking historically, has been a means used by the holders of power to induce others to live for the interests of their masters rather than their own. Of course the holders of power conceal this fact from themselves by managing to believe that their interests are identical with the larger interests of humanity. Sometimes this is true; Athenian slave-owners, for instance, employed part of their leisure in making a permanent contribution to civilization which would have been impossible under a just economic system. Leisure is essential to civilization, and in former times leisure for the few was rendered possible only by the labors of the many. But their labors were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good. And with modern technic it would be possible to distribute leisure justly without injury to civilization
• The War showed conclusively that by the scientific organization of production it is possible to keep modern populations in fair comfort on a small part of the working capacity of the modern world. If at the end of the War the scientific organization which had been created in order to liberate men for fighting and munition work had been preserved, and the hours of work had been cut down to four, all would have been well. Instead of that, the old chaos was restored, those whose work was demanded were made to work long hours, and the rest were left to starve as unemployed. Why? Because work is a duty, and a man should not receive wages in proportion to what he has produced, but in proportion to his virtue as exemplified by his industry.
• In this way it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined?
• When meddlesome busy-bodies suggested that perhaps these hours were rather long, they were told that work kept adults from drink and children from mischief. When I was a child, shortly after urban working men had acquired the vote, certain public holidays were established by law, to the great indignation of the upper classes. I remember hearing an old Duchess say, “What do the poor want with holidays? they ought to work.” People nowadays are less frank, but the sentiment persists, and is the source of much economic confusion.
• I shall not develop the fact that in all modern societies outside the U. S. S. R. many people escape even this minimum of work, namely all those who inherit money and all those who marry money. I do not think the fact that these people are allowed to be idle is nearly so harmful as the fact that wage-earners are expected to overwork or starve. If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day there would be enough for everybody, and no unemployment — assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization.
• We have been misled in this matter by two causes. One is the necessity of keeping the poor contented, which has led the rich for thousands of years to preach the dignity of labor, while taking care themselves to remain undignified in this respect.
• Neither of these motives makes any great appeal to the actual worker. If you ask him what he thinks the best part of his life, he is not likely to say, “I enjoy manual work because it makes me feel that I am fulfilling man’s noblest task, and because I like to think how much man can transform his planet. It is true that my body demands periods of rest, which I have to fill in as best I may, but I am never so happy as when the morning comes and I can return to the toil from which my contentment springs.” I have never heard working men say this sort of thing. They consider work, as it should be considered, as a necessary means to a livelihood, and it is from their leisure hours that they derive whatever happiness they may enjoy
• The notion that the desirable activities are those that bring a profit has made everything topsy-turvy. The butcher who provides you with meat and the baker who provides you with bread are praiseworthy because they are making money but when you enjoy the food they have provided you are merely frivolous, unless you eat only to get strength for your work. Broadly speaking, it is held that getting money is good and spending money is bad.
• Seeing that they are two sides of one transaction, this is absurd; one might as well maintain that keys are good but keyholes are bad.
• The individual, in our society, works for profit; but the social purpose of his work lies in the consumption of what he produces. It is this divorce between the individual and the social purpose of production that makes it so difficult for men to think clearly in a world in which profitmaking is the incentive to industry. We think too much of production and too little of consumption. One result is that we attach too little importance to enjoyment and simple happiness, and that we do not judge production by the pleasure that it gives to the consumer.
• Peasant dances have died out except in remote rural areas, but the impulses which caused them to be cultivated must still exist in human nature. The pleasures of urban populations have become mainly passive: seeing cinemas, watching football matches, listening to the radio, and so on. This results from the fact that their active energies are fully taken up with work; if they had more leisure they would again enjoy pleasures in which they took an active part.

• In the past there was a small leisure class and a large working class. The leisure class enjoyed advantages for which there was no basis in social justice; this necessarily made it oppressive, limited its sympathies, and caused it to invent theories by which to justify its privileges. These facts greatly diminished its excellence, but in spite of this drawback it contributed nearly the whole of what we call civilization. It cultivated the arts and discovered the sciences; it wrote the books, invented the philosophies, and refined social relations. Even the liberation of the oppressed has usually been inaugurated from above. Without the leisure class mankind would never have emerged from barbarism.

   
• Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen instead to have overwork for some and starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines. In this we have been foolish,

13 more annotations...

• Hoe schrijf je over ‘foute’ dorpsgenoten, decennia na de oorlog, wanneer families nog altijd in dezelfde gemeenschap wonen?

• De vele vraagtekens rond deze liquidatie waren voor mij in 2020 aanleiding om een onderzoek te doen. Er kwamen nieuwe gegevens boven tafel, maar het lukte me niet om de precieze toedracht te achterhalen. In een artikel voor het tijdschrift van de lokale historische vereniging noemde ik als meest waarschijnlijke optie, dat de NSB’er door iemand uit eigen kring werd geliquideerd. Ik baseerde mij daarbij op verklaringen van de dochter van de vermoorde man en op een rapport uit 1948 van een politiek rechercheur.

   
• De redactie van het blad deed er meer dan een halfjaar over om een besluit te nemen over het door mij ingediende artikel. Men was bang dat het stuk te veel emoties zou oproepen. Het artikel werd uiteindelijk niet geplaatst.
• Misschien nog wel het belangrijkste was, dat zo ongeveer alle inwoners die ik sprak mij vertelden dat zij eigenlijk weinig wisten over de gebeurtenissen, omdat er bij hen thuis nooit over de oorlog werd gesproken. Na de bevrijding was de knop omgegaan. Bij verzetslieden zat het zwijgen in het bloed. NSB’ers werden opgesloten en na hun gevangenisstraf met de nek aangekeken en in de grote middengroep wilde niemand meer aan die akelige tijd herinnerd worden.

• In de boeken en artikelen wordt met name geschreven over neergestorte vliegtuigen, de schaarste, de hongerwinter, de bombardementen en de Duitse repressie. In mindere mate komt het verzet aan bod. Bovendien vond ik weinig of geen informatie over:

   
   
  1. De rol van NSB’ers en collaborateurs. 
  2. De opstelling van lokale autoriteiten, zoals de burgemeester, de politie, de pastoor en de dominee en andere notabelen. 
  3. De houding van de inwoners ten opzichte van de bezetter.
• In mijn interviews met ouderen (80+) die nog eigen herinneringen hadden aan de oorlogsjaren, viel mij op dat men weifelend en voorzichtig antwoord gaf op mijn vragen over collaboratie. Sommigen wilden geen namen noemen. Met drie familieleden van NSB’ers heb ik een gesprek gehad. Anderen die ik benaderde wilden geen contact. Opvallend was bovendien dat enkele familieleden na het eerste gesprek verder contact afhielden.<p></p><div data-block="4" data-code="<div class='ablok ablok-4 ablok-mobiel--in-de-content' style='margin: 8px auto 25px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both; max-width: 100%; height: 310px;'>
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'></div>
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• In de Bijzondere Rechtspleging zijn deze leden alleen veroordeeld voor hun lidmaatschap. Na een of twee jaar detentie kwamen zij weer vrij. Waar er sprake was van geldelijk gewin werd een geldboete opgelegd.

• Kortom, informatie over NSB’ers en hun activiteiten heb ik wel kunnen vinden. Dat stelde mij voor de vraag, hoe ik dit alles in mijn boek zou beschrijven. Uit mijn ervaringen met het artikel voor het tijdschrift en mijn contacten met familieleden was duidelijk dat het onderwerp nog altijd gevoelig ligt. Sommige deskundigen die ik raadpleegde waren van mening dat het noemen van namen tachtig jaar na dato mogelijk moest zijn. Anderen stelden voor om gefingeerde namen te gebruiken, vooral vanwege familieleden die nog altijd ter plaatse wonen. Ik had enkele van hen gesproken en begrip gekregen voor de gevoeligheden. Ik koos dus voor andere namen.

   
• Toen ik het bestuur een lijst voorlegde van inwoners over wie een CABR-dossier was gemaakt, ging men op de rem staan, vanwege de familieleden die nog altijd ter plaatse wonen. In het overleg met het bestuur konden we geen tussenweg vinden. Na vier maanden ben ik gestopt met dit onderzoek.

• De ophef die ontstaan is rond het al of niet openbaar maken van de CABR-dossiers maakt eens te meer duidelijk, hoe gevoelig deze materie tachtig jaar na dato nog altijd is.

   

• Burgemeesters en andere gezagsdragers stonden, zoals bekend, voor lastige opgaven. De orders van de bezetter opvolgen, trachten de maatregelen enigszins te verzachten en waar mogelijk te ontduiken, of heimelijk de orders saboteren en tegengaan: dat waren de beperkte opties voor de autoriteiten.

   

• Anders dan in de Bijzondere Rechtspleging ging het in de zuiveringscommissies niet over overtredingen of misdaden. Wel stond ter discussie of de burgemeester of de ambtenaar zich al te meegaand tegenover de bezetter had opgesteld. En, wat nog belangrijker was, of de meegaandheid voortkwam uit angst dan wel uit sympathie voor de bezetter en zijn handlangers.

   

• Hoewel de verslagen in zakelijke stijl zijn opgesteld, valt tussen de regels door te lezen, dat er hoogoplopende discussies zijn gevoerd tijdens de zittingen van de zuiveringscommissie. In Vleuten werden zelfs enkele verzetslieden, die tevens ambtenaar waren, aangeklaagd. Mogelijk was dit een reactie van beschuldigde ambtenaren op de aanklagers uit het verzet.

   
• Zelfs vanuit verzetskringen werd de waarnemer nog positiever beoordeeld dan zijn voorganger. Burgemeester Verder werd op grond van het negatieve oordeel van de commissie uit zijn functie ontheven.
• Over de opstelling van de inwoners ten opzichte van de bezetter en zijn maatregelen is daarentegen weinig informatie beschikbaar. Er waren geen onderzoeksbureaus die peilingen uitvoerden. In het standaardwerk van Lou de Jong, Het koninkrijk der Nederland in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, zesentwintig banden dik, is ‘de publieke opinie’ een ondergeschoven kindje. Ook De Jong moest het met beperkt onderzoeksmateriaal doen.

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• If Palestinians had a Mandela, they would be able to stop themselves from being bombed.

• This is exactly the kind of victim-blaming rhetoric that has always served as a pretext for genocide. Before you kill a people, you must first dehumanise them. The search for the elusive Palestinian Mandela is predicated on the idea that like other Arabs, Palestinians are inherently violent. Violence is in their blood, in their souls, in their culture and peace can never be brokered with such a people.

• The Mandela who is invoked in these moments is an invention of the West; he is a man who only exists as part of the racial imaginary. This Mandela is conjured as a counterweight to the savagery of Arabs, weaponised as a finger-wagging moral example to revolutionaries who are too radical. This false Mandela stands as an example of the ‘good native.’
• Later that year, Mandela concluded that taking up arms was unavoidable. He founded the miliary wing of the African National Congress. My father, who was a young man at the time, was an early recruit.
• When he was found guilty of treason in 1964, Mandela refused to denounce violence. He said, “I do not, however, deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression of my people by the Whites.”

• In the same vein, the popular Palestinian leader, Marwan Bargouti, who has been locked up for thirty years has said, “The occupation is negotiating with us while maintaining its occupation; therefore, we want to negotiate while maintaining resistance. You can’t have occupation and peace at the same time.” Margouti has proven time and again that he is prepared to reason with Israel, based on respect and genuine engagement.

• Even if Bargouti did not exist, there are many others worthy of being called heroes. There are countless Palestinians who know what it will take to forge a society founded on peace rather than hate. We have all watched the maturation of a generation of Palestinian youth who have been shaped by checkpoints, forced resettlements, Israeli snipers and bombardment. Their steadfastness in the face of these attacks has been overwhelming. We have also seen the courage of Palestinian journalists who have demonstrated time and again what it means to love the truth and to fight for it to be told. There is no shortage of Mandelas or Bargoutis in Palestine.
• Marwan as saying, “We Palestinians have our ‘Mandela.’ We are waiting for an Israeli de Klerk.”

• The First Invention of Mandela

• We chose Mandela. It was a deliberate decision. We understood the ways of the Western mind. A single figure. A heroic man. He was a worthy icon: tall and handsome; eloquent and fearless.

• Every campaign carried his name. When he sang, his name hung above our heads, rising with the weight of our voices. The apartheid regime banned his image, but we kept him alive in the world’s imagination. The university students in the UK and America who marched for South African to be sanctioned in the 1980s kept his name and image alive. The shop workers at the Dunnes stores in Ireland who refused to handle South African goods and said no to unloading grapefruits and oranges grown on stolen lands -- they too kept Mandela in their hearts.
• They feared him because they could not kill him. The promise of white supremacy is that white life matters more than Black life and so, any Black person who is perceived as threatening can be eliminated. This was true for everyone except Mandela. Because at a certain point it became clear to the Afrikaners in power that killing Mandela would be costly.
• If they killed the hero, he would become a martyr, and they would lose the West. And if they lost the West, there would be no reason to survive. The architects of apartheid had tied themselves to the West economically, ideologically, and culturally. If the West pulled away from the supremacist project at the tip of the African continent, if it refused to accept the passports of white South Africans, and denied them the capacity to invest in their stock exchanges or benefit from their investments, the entire enterprise would fall apart
• The regime knew that the Europeans and the Americans were happy to do business with them despite the protests and objections of their citizens, but they also understood that the political calculus would change if they killed Mandela.
• Mandela understood this too. This understanding that he was too famous to die strengthened his hand and allowed him more room to be brave

• Barghouti has no such leeway; no Palestinian does, not Shireen Abu-Akleh, not Anas Al-Sharif, not Hossam Shabat, not a single one of the hundreds of journalists killed during the genocide. Every time the Israelis kill another prominent Palestinian journalist, it becomes clearer that we are in uncharted territory and there is no activist handbook for this moment.

• The South African regime - as egregious as it was - had red lines. The genocidal state that has unashamedly live-streamed its war crimes does not.

• He went on, “I say dumped advisedly: only things or rubbish is dumped, not human beings. Apartheid has, however, ensured that God’s children, just because they are black, should be treated as if they were things, and not as of infinite value as being created in the image of God.”

• The letter was written in response to a statement made by President Pik Botha in Parliament a few weeks earlier. The apartheid leader had offered to release Mandela if he ‘unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon’. It was the sixth offer of its kind. Previous versions had offered Mandela exile in exchange for his personal freedom.

• I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom. Too many have died since I went to prison. Too many have suffered for the love of freedom. I owe it to their widows, to their orphans, to their mothers and to their fathers who have grieved and wept for them. Not only I have suffered during these long, lonely, wasted years. I am not less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free. I am in prison as the representative of the people and of your organisation, the African National Congress, which was banned.

• What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? What freedom am I being offered when I may be arrested on a pass offence? What freedom am I being offered to live my life as a family with my dear wife who remains in banishment in Brandfort? What freedom am I being offered when I must ask for permission to live in an urban area? What freedom am I being offered when I need a stamp in my pass to seek work? What freedom am I being offered when my very South African citizenship is not respected?

• Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
• He had to share it with Frederik De Klerk, who was the last apartheid president of South Africa. It was not lost on many of us that a Black man who had fought for freedom, spent twenty-seven years in one of the harshest prisons in the world, and then come out to negotiate the world’s most ambitious young democracy had to share a peace prize with a man who had dedicated his life to an ideology of white supremacy before finally capitulating to international pressure by entering into negotiations to end apartheid.

• A few days before the joint prize was announced, the white South African army raided a “suspected black terrorist hideout” and killed five people. The ‘terrorists’ were five unarmed Black teenagers.
• De Klerk accepted the prize with the same hands that had signed off on the boys’ murder.

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