NOWHERE-NOW HERE, HECTOR CASTELLS TRAVEL JOURNAL – NEPALESE CAPSULES: EPISODE XI.

22 DEAD NOT A SINGLE ONE DEFEATED: THE INSURGENCE OF NEVER ENDING LOVE AND PEACE

NOW HERE

Kathmandu, SEPTEMBER 8^th 2025

If every time you enter a city the civilians are setting its Parliament on fire, you know you are in the right place witnessing the right thing.

Last week, the Ministry of Communications and Technology of Nepal released the notorious statement that has claimed the lives of 22 innocent demonstrators, and the demolition of their own authoritarian and corrupted cabinet, forcing Sharma Oli, the disgraced Prime Minister and all his fellows in power to crumble and flee —at least of those scoundrels who were fast enough to escape the angry crowds breaking in their residences, dragging them out feet first, and burning their homes to the ground.

The horror in their eyes makes a pleasant view all over Tik Tok.

Before becoming a pariah, Sharma Oli was renowned as the leader of the largest Communist party in Nepal. He gained his seat on top of almighty corruption and lies after forming a very undemocratic coalition that has been sitting on power under different names for over half a century, although the pariah himself has “only” ruled since the devastating Earthquake of 2015.

There’s only as much infamy a man can take in, and he has exceeded the most ignominious expectations by a fucking mile.

 

Now Here, Kathmandu, September 9^th 2025

The colossal, unintended self-immolation of the political elite of Nepal was set in motion after the Ministry of Communications and Technology issued a statement last Wednesday banning 26 social media outlets from operating in the country. From Meta (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram) to YouTube, Reddit, Snapchat, Linkedin… You name it.

According to the currently jobless officials, the said tech giants had failed to meet the deadline to register under the new set of regulations imposed by the Ministry.

The new guidelines were the umpteenth intent of the regime to control and repress the use of social media, something they embarrassingly failed to do, likely for being oblivious to the existence of VPNs.

At the end of the bloody day, they are very old lads —If they only had known better… But they didn’t and they never will.

NEPO SHAMING BABES

As it turned out, the reason for the ban was as prosaic as infuriating: over the last few weeks the hashtags #Nepo Baby, #NepoKids and #PoliticiansNepoBabyNepal had been trending in Tik Tok and Reddit, both brimming with videos showing the lavish life, luxury goods and expensive holidays that the kids of the Nepali political cream have been indulging on for as long as they can possibly remember.

Needless to say, the privileged Nepali have been swimming in filthy wealth thanks to cashing in the taxes of their fellow countrymen and women, whose average monthly salary sits under 250 dollars.

The ill timing of the Ministry statement was met with a phenomenal outcry, echoing and outlining the age and ideological abyss unravelling the old farts sitting in power from the younger generations of the country.

The sad truth is that every day around 5 thousand young Nepali leave the country looking for job opportunities overseas: Australia, the UAE, Japan and Korea, a jobless toll amounting to over 20 per cent of unemployment. Living abroad, many Nepali have found themselves systemically punished, becoming the lowest migrants of foreign, snotty kingdoms where they work over sixty hours per week and sleep in filthy dorms with another dozen enslaved compatriots for less than 800 dollars a month.

You can only wonder how alienated and furious the national youngsters were after being deprived from posting overnight.

Their outcry was joined by journalists and freedom of speech advocates, and very swiftly the impromptu protest escalated: crowds were called to gather on Monday outside the Parliament building in Kathmandu —and the rest of city councils across the nation, in what has been labelled a “Gen Z.” protest.

Large numbers of school uniformed kids, teenagers, youngsters and a remarkable amount of adults followed the call, many of them crying out loud that time was up: they were fed-up with their delusional, wrecked leaders, fattening over decades like Middle Age monarchs on the throne of ignorance and detachment.

THE SILENT NOISE OF BULLETS

The amount of folk attending the demonstrations swiftly overcame all expectations, and after the a couple of hours, riot police started using rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas that proved insufficient to defy the stunning insurgence. Tension inevitably spiralled, and once all hell broke loose many demonstrators started climbing the Parliament building —ultimately setting it on fire.

Over 200 hundred people were injured and 22 were shot dead in the whole country, many of them with real bullets.

The bloodstained civil unrest ended up with the iconic image of the flames devouring the main houses of corruption.

The uproar of the fearless heroes was met with the proverbial disproportionate use of force. Nothing remotely similar had happened in recent history. Until two days ago, many Nepali would be proud their famous motto: Never Ending Peace and Love.

As the resilient crowds advanced and proved to be far from defeated, the leadership started hiding and shitting.

Now Here, Kathmandu, September the 10^th

After a day and a night of glorious, bloody insurgence, the government went on to announce yesterday morning that they had decided to lift the social media ban, another coward and ill decision that triggered a new dawn of organised protests and unfriendly fires in front of the private residencies of the political elite, and outside a number of police stations all over Nepal.

Yesterday the whole skyline became an intoxicating, ceaseless cloud of thick smoke silhouetting the epochal insurgence. The youngsters were out again, this time knowing that they had been targeted murderously, so the never ending love was, for once, turned into an eternal fight against damnation as brave as fearless as the day before, although this time innocence was lost.

To the eyes of the bastard, lonely foreigner it was inspirational and heroic, no matter what happens tomorrow.

As of today, looters and burglars are raiding some areas of Kathmandu and Pokhara and the army has deployed checkpoints all over the country.

It is uncertain what will happen in the near future, but the events of the last two days will be remembered as the dream of a folk taking down the house of the Lords without inflicting a single casualty.