As Nepal burned on Thursday after two days of deadly unrest that ousted a government accused of corruption, thousands of young people gathered in a heated debate to decide their nation’s next leader.
To them, the country’s mainstream politicians across the major parties were discredited: 14 governments representing three parties have taken turns at governing since 2008, when Nepal adopted a new constitution after abolishing its monarchy. But in the wake of a brutal crackdown on protesters by security forces that killed at least 72 people, their trust in the country’s political system itself had been shattered. They wanted to select a consensus leader who would steer the country of 30 million people out of chaos and take steps towards stamping out corruption and nepotism. Just not in the way countries usually pick their heads.
So, they chose Nepal’s next leader in a manner unprecedented for any electoral democracy – through a virtual poll on Discord, a United States-based free messaging platform mainly used by online gamers. The online huddle was organised by Hami Nepal, a Gen Z group behind the protest with more than 160,000 members.
Hami Nepal ran a channel on the platform called Youth Against Corruption, where a fiery debate on the country’s future brought together more than 10,000 people, including many from the Nepali diaspora. As more people tried to log in and failed, a mirrored livestream was held on YouTube to allow about 6,000 more people to see the debate. Discord enables users to connect through texts, voice calls, video calls and media sharing. It also allows communication through direct messages or within community spaces known as servers. It was one of the platforms banned by the government earlier this month alongside two dozen other popular applications, including Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
The ban, protesters said, was the last straw that spiralled into a nationwide movement against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s government. The demonstrators accused it of being unrepresentative of young people, as well as of widespread corruption and nepotism.
Tens of thousands of young protesters hit the streets on Tuesday, torching government buildings, including the parliament and residences of top politicians, and forcing Oli to resign. On Friday, President Ramchandra Paudel dissolved parliament and called for a general election in March.
Source: Here