To Our Readers in Nepal
Since G. is blocking a few sites, blogdai, through the suggestion of some of our readers , is providing a list of proxy sites. Log on and you can surf all banned sites. This was taken from the very good--and banned--International Nepal Solidarity Network site. Those of us in Kathmandu, check out the site through any of the below listed proxy servers. You can even access Samudaya.org if you absolutely must. -=blogdai
How to visit blocked sites
Some websites have been blocked by the authorities in Nepal.
Please learn some ways to visit blocked sites:
Go to http://proxy.guardster.com
At “Free Anonymous Surfing” type the address you want to visit in the text box after “http://”.
Click “Surf”
After clicking you will see next page with terms and conditions. Go down of that page.
Click “Surf Anonymous”
Now you can see the site you want to visit, below the advertisement.
Some other proxy websites are:
http://proxify.com/http://surfshield.net/http://www.guardster.com/http://anonymouse.ws/anonwww.htmlhttp://www.the-cloak.com/anonymous-surfing-home.htmlhttp://www.anonymizer.com/index.shtml
There are other free softwares which can be used with proxy ip to view the blocked sites. it might be slow and a little headache, but it does work even if the government of Nepal blocks the above sites. goto download.com and search for proxy software or anonymous surfing software.
So far, blogdai has confirmation that proxify.com is a viable proxy from Nepal. Guardster, on the other hand, does not seem to work.
This looks like it will be an ongoing competition with those of us posting proxy servers versus the Government who is blocking these servers as soon as they are realized. So, smart, computer-savvy readers: keep posting viable proxy server addresses here. We will publish some, and cache others so that our Nepali friends can recieve some proxy addresses privately, via e-mail, without the public scrutiny of G. and hes censors.
-=blogdai
posted by blogdai @ 7/10/2005 09:24:00 AM
20 comments
20 Comments:
Does anybody have a list of what sites were blocked?
The newest adventures in blocking center around the International Nepal Solidarity Network: insn.org, who were probably censored and blocked for their actual insight and well-researched criticism of the King; and Samudaya.org who were probably blocked for publishing Maoist comments and basically, for the general, disjointed and irrelevant nature of their debate. Check them both out and see if you agree.
Blogdai's friend Deepak Adhikari at newslookmag.com is having a bit of a server problem these days as well. He has already been blocked once, so blogdai is awaiting word on his current status.
-=blogdai
Blogdai,
This post is off-topic, but I am curious to find out whether there is in fact a ban on pillion passengers on motorcyles in Kathmandu, as has been reported by the BBC, Kathmandu Post and Nepal News. These reports suggest that there is such a ban in other areas of the country and that there has been for some time.
Are you able to confirm the reality?
This obviously has no impact on me (not until October anyway!), but I imagine will have a major impact on ordinary Nepalis - many of whom I saw riding 2,3 and 4 abreast throughout the streets of Kathmandu and Pokhara as recently as April 2005.
With all due respect to journalists in Nepal, I suspect this sort of heavy-handedness of the king (if the reports are true) are likely to do far more damage to his cause, in the eyes of ordinary Nepalis, than the curtailing of press freedom...
Alison
South Australia
Sorry, I have just done a CTRL-refresh of my Kantipur online page!
Apparently, the government 'order' was simply a 'request', although I think people would be forgiven for thinking that this clarification only occurred as a result of the number of complaints that were received
Which could well reinforce the last comment made in my previous post??
Alison
South Australia
To the above poster
No such ban exists. The media presented it as such but they have had to backtrack after they realised they fcked up. In true Media style, they will not admit that they fcked up -read below
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=45334
An English Man Who Loves Nepal
banning pillion riding has not happened...they claim the media misquoted...fact...its not heavy handedness...most effective counter insurgency in punjab in the 80's used a ban on pillons effectively. also banned were shaded car windows..intrestingly pokara is where maoists have used pillon riding gunmen effectively.
when push comes to shove...a military solution does curtail everyday life. but it worked in malay, peru and punjab...
Aww, isn't it sweet of the Big Pee to sweet talk little G and the democorrupts.
The Maobadi and democorrupts are going to form a marriage of convenience to rid Nepal of the Big G. So it seems...
Do you think the democorrupts will be able to persuade the Maobadi to lay down their arms and take to the streets? I don't think so.
The democorrupts will have to 'overlook' the brutality of Maoists to achieve this end. Perhaps they will convince themselves it is for their own greater good, um, i mean for the greater good of the country? (aren't they the same if you are a democorrupt?
Big Pee and little G with their democorrupt family....
Isn't that just dandy?
An English man who loves Nepal...
In reference to the above comment...
Yes, very interesting indeed. The Maoists stated for months prior to February 1 that they would not deal with any of the parties and would only negotiate with the King.
Come February 1, the Maoists stated that they will not negotiate with the King.
Now, the Maoists and the political parties reported to be negotiating????
Neither the Maoists nor the political parties have any credibility whatsover.
If Maoist atrocities are overlooked by the political parties and an alliance similar to the one described above is formed, I think it will be a very sad day for Nepal.
In relation to the pillion passenger issue I raised in an earlier post, I note that Kantipur, Nepal News and Himalayan Times have 'clarified' the situation, but that BBC South Asia contains no such update. Does that mean anything?
Alison
South Australia
PS - when in Pokhara in April, pillion passengers were not a problem (not stopped once at checkpoints going in and out on several occasions), however visors on helmets were banned (although thankfully, pollution is not a problem as it is in Kathmandu)
PPS - I am in no way a royalist (either for here in Australia or for Nepal!) but I feel that the current alternatives are the worse option for Nepal.
Pillion ban/suggestion has been an on and off affair for years. We had such a ban, briefly, prior to the takeover a few years back.
Alison, your comment on the ease of pillion riding in the Pokhara region illustrates perfectly why the Maoists are still with us: there is no government outside of Kathmandu. Add to that Nepal's formidable geography and a Maoist movement could exist indefinitely--even if they only have a handful of people--as long as they are able to make a press release.
"Englishman," good to hear from you again. As always, you bring up a few good things: first, everyone, including the media, shares the blame for misinformation in Nepal. Blogdai loves a free and open press, to be sure, but this does not mean that nepal's media is above tabloidism and melodramatic picture-painting.
All of your concerns have been validated today since maoists are forming a "committee" to negotiate with the parties; while the parties are fooling with some crazy "parallel government" idea. Wake up idiots..two irrelevants don't make a relevant political force. Are you forgetting something? YOU DON'T CONTROL THE RNA.
-=blogdai
Blogdai,
Do you mind if i take this opportunity to plug my website?
http://www.help2educate.com
We are looking for volunteers to teach english or to work in orphanages. The money goes towards rescuing and rehabilitating child labourers in Nepal.
Nothing grand, just a simple charity that does what it says on the tin.
An English Man
hey blogdai...have u ever been to bihar? go there and you will understand a lot of what is going on in Nepal...in 1999 a taxi driver once pointed out to me...that now bihar ka hawa [ wind of bihar]is starting to come north to Nepal and that is why it is no longer a paradise. this weeks camp that they found in bihar is an example...in reality the Indian govt especially the man in the blue turban has no control over what happens in that lawless state.
as long as Nepal has a border with that naxilite / private army kingdom...peace will be slow in coming
It is true, as Bihar goes, so goes Nepal's Maoists. Even the Koirala's themselves were raised and learned their political style in Bihar. PWG, RIM and others train and supply Prachanda's troops. It is the open secret of this whole mess.
For a while, India's do-nothing attitude towards the Naxalites and others helped them maintain a desired political distance from nepal.
The chain, as blogdai sees it, goes something like this: India denounces revolutionary groups in Bihar but does nothing; Bihar groups train and supply Nepal's maoists; Maoists keep nepal a bewildering and dangerous place and reinforce Nepal's dependency on big brother India; India controls little Nepal this way, and thus, keeps Nepal as its buffer satellite state against China.
-=blogdai
and the funny thing is all the chinese spooks in ktm that i spoke to last year ....said that india was so paranoid of china that they had absolutely no clue of the chinese economic agenda and interest in nepal..but then chinese spooks can rewrite the whole book on diplo speak anyways
I've always observed Chinese diplo-speak to take a certain pattern: Come in hard-line, piss-off and insult everyone, then play the calm mediator.
Diplo-brinkmanship, if you will.
-=blogdai
..till 1999..early 2000 ...the common man on the street of nepal always thought that the maoists were funded by china and it was an expanionist apres tibet scheme...looks like india took pains in naming this illegit child
Yes, the Maoist/China connection was reflexive and lazy reporting.
It was quite possibly frommented by the Western media, who heard the term "Mao" and naturally assumed China's sponsorship. Even big, self-absorbed "analysts" like STRATFOR flippantly assumed Nepal's Maoists were from China.
-=blogdai
have you read this? what the hell is this? any explainations?
http://www.newsinsight.net/archivedebates/nat2.asp?recno=1184
Well, yes.
This is crap. India, being the "world's largest democracy" is just showing, perhaps, the only thing it does that lives up to the term. India's press is an unbridled, unregulated mess of opinions, bias and overt nationalism--if not racism, that is allowed complete free reign.
(One wonders if G. used the Indian press as a model of the horrors possible under a "free" system as his incentive for supressing press freedoms in Nepal)
Anonymous, all I can offer to you here is the admonishment, don't worry and relax. News Insight is an opinionated group who publishes stories based on what they's LIKE to believe. Perhaps they are the ICG of India, no?
We are used to this crap in the West. Unfortunately, many Nepalis and Indians belive this type of writing to be true.
Ask yourself, has the UN ever taken over a government? The UN is a roundly incompetant bunch with no field skills at this level. Does even Condi Rice have this kind of authority? No, this is reactionary crap, plain and simple. Use it to help you define the outer parameters of the Nepal debate only.
-=blogdai
I was interested more in finding out your reaction and see how you'd respond.
My travels in India and Nepal and in the West have shown me that they are incredibally diverse and often impossible to put into big box categories. I can understand why you might put Nepal in one, but even India?
I also find it slightly amusing that you take this as an opportunity to frame the debate as we in the west vs. you in the east. Nevertheless, crap was what it was. I was just a little surprised ( my eastern naivety maybe?).
I couldn't find anything more on News Insights. If you care to, more insight would be appreciated.Your western abilities will tell gold from dirt might come useful no?
Generally, responses from me try to blend content with debate stimulation. So, my answers are often a two-edged sword (or butter knife, when I'm behind the curve).
To the crux: East vs. West is only apparent because the West gets the story wrong so much of the time. It is contributors like you who help cut throught the morass. None of this discussion is worth a damn without people who are on the ground in Nepal and India giving us comments on the actual realities of the situation.
Finally, leave News Insights alone. You've already gleaned what you need from them. Your comments and observations are more relevant than their's will ever be.
-=blogdai
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