In 2024, a Gen-G-led youth uprising shook more than two dozen countries around the world. The main reasons why the ruling class was surprised by the youth's anger were issues of corruption, unemployment, economic inequality, and lack of government services.

The student movement in Bangladesh has not stopped the killing of more than 1,500 people, and it is showing new signs of change. In Kenya, protests against a high tax bill in June-July forced the rulers there to withdraw the bill, but there was no change in systemic reforms.

In Indonesia, protests against MPs' allowances and school food poisoning are a partially successful example of how the government was forced to kneel. In the Philippines, the bureaucracy was overwhelmed by anger over the misuse of relief for flood victims. In the Latin American country of Peru, the rulers there succeeded in suppressing protests against crime and corruption and in Morocco, the rulers there succeeded in suppressing protests against World Cup spending.

In Madagascar, where the Nepali flag was also hoisted, the government has collapsed due to protests against water and electricity shortages and a military dictatorship has begun. Just before that, our Gen-G rebellion has made the country like a 'pendulum'.

In reality, the rebellion of our young generation against ‘elite-luxury’, in the words of the famous columnist CK Lal, the ‘green belt’ rebellion not only brought down the Oli government, but also started a tragedy by establishing an interim government led by a woman older than Oli. However, the social media that ignited the flames of the rebellion is indicating that the interim government led by Sushila Karki will also collapse.

For the same reasons that the common people were prepared for rebellion and destruction by inciting them through (un)social media, all those perverse reasons are why the forces that claim ownership of that rebellion and destruction have introduced themselves by adopting the same old Oli-Deuba path while not forming a formal party and making the list of the proportional electoral system public.

The spectacle of making the so-called new party the Prime Minister’s musical chair in the old style as a loose alliance has shocked everyone. The two different seven-point business agreements between the so-called ‘nation-building’ trinity do not contain the term ‘federal democratic republic’ anywhere.

It is not difficult to understand that the selective use of words like ‘liberal economy’ and ‘pluralist system’ is an attempt to reassure the ‘Lord’ that we are not moving away from the current global neoliberal capitalist system. Politically, the tampering with the constitution created by the Constituent Assembly as a result of more than seven decades of struggle poses a serious challenge to the sovereignty of the country itself.

There can be no greater irony than the sad, poor and downtrodden people considering those who cannot assimilate the most advanced and progressive democratic concepts like democratic republic, federalism, inclusiveness and proportionality, and secularism as saviors.

The basic foundation of political parties is ideology, which guides the party’s philosophy, policies, and goals. Ideology is a kind of belief system. In its absence, political parties become ideologically dysfunctional, which in political theory is considered ‘post-ideological politics’ or the end of ideology.

American sociologist Daniel Bell had proposed the concept of the end of ideology in the 1950s, arguing that class struggle and ideological conflict had ended in industrial society. The context in which Fukuyama has the ambition to fill the air is the most infamous and criticized. Because ideologically dysfunctional parties are based on opportunism and ‘populism’, such parties prioritize short-term gains. This leads to a complete disregard for larger social problems.

The context in which ideologically dysfunctional political parties cause serious disasters in democracy, which was brilliantly explained by the famous political scientist Joseph Schumpeter in his book ‘Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy’ (1942), seems to be useful for us at this time as well. Political parties try to garner votes by selling voters as if they were a ‘product’, which ends up harming the people by embracing the median voter theory, also known as Downs’ economic theory, instead of ideology.

This style makes the party unprincipled, which leads to policy instability. Parties make popular promises only for electoral gain, but fail to implement them and reduce public trust. This increases voter apathy overall, which political scientist Robert Dahl has called ‘polyarchy’, the main challenge to democracy. The alliance of the so-called ‘Rabaku’ (Ravi-Balen-Kulman), the trinity, has shown this situation. 

Another major disaster of ideologically unprincipled parties is corruption and moral decay. When parties become ideologically unprincipled, they focus on factionalism and personal gain, which first leads to democratic decline. According to Freedom House, such ideologically unprincipled parties increase polarization and cause social division and violence.

In developing countries like Nepal, even though parties label themselves as communist or democratic, extreme opportunism prevails in practice, leading to the Gen-G rebellion. On top of that, the entry and presence of thoughtless parties is certain to be even more disastrous. That challenge will be to sovereignty rather than to the livelihood of the people. 

Thoughtless parties undermine national unity and long-term policy-making. Anthony Downs's 'Economic Theory of Democracy' describes political parties as 'economic agents'. According to Downs' theory, parties follow the median preferences of voters. That is, policies targeting the middle point of the voters' ideological 'spectrum' are more likely to win elections.

In the median voter theorem, parties abandon a clear philosophy or ideology and just win elections, according to the strategic deception of Rabaku's alliance, which has adopted the infamous style of 'catch-all party' (which includes everyone but does not express any clear idea).

Such parties do not have a clear philosophy, theory or ideology. They only aim to gain power and garner votes. As a result, parties make popular slogans and short-term promises only for electoral gains, without any interest in their long-term implementation.

Francis Fukuyama's prediction that the end of ideology will bring stability is causing disaster in practice. To prevent this, parties have no choice but to be based on a clear philosophy and moral values. Otherwise, instability, corruption and social disintegration weaken the nation. Therefore, the identity of the Rabaku Trinity party must be clarified in a way that the public can understand. The repeated reference to the slogan 'elect those who know' is not too old.

On the other hand, it has become clear that the joy that the Gen-G rebellion was supposed to shake the hearts of the status quo political parties and their leaders was fleeting. The repeated inclusion of those who have been MPs and ministers for almost a dozen times in the proportional list and have spent more than half of their lives in office and power, and the smell of familyism, nepotism, and favoritism has once again insulted the Nepali people. Not only has the Rabaku alliance emerged in the same vein, but the auctioning of MP posts to the elite and wealthy Kuberas in installments with the blood of martyrs must have raised a serious question as to how the Nepali people can trust them. 

As the country stands on the verge of the upcoming elections, the hope of a change in the style, conduct, and nature of governance is dying. Once again, the possibility of any kind of improvement in the rotten character of the parliamentary system is fading. In the two-pronged struggle between pushing the country towards regression or progress, the regressive rhetoric of the old status quo and the new so-called ‘populists’ has actually increased the fear of the country’s sovereignty and identity for the first time in history.

Therefore, Lenin’s famous thesis that there is no guarantee that rebellion will always ensure progress is being realized most clearly among us at this time. The hope of change shown by the Gen-G rebellion, the unexpected change in the form and style of governance, and the establishment of independence and identity have been pushed to the background.

With the possible scenario of the upcoming elections endorsing the same threat, it would not be unnatural for conscious citizens to believe that the so-called rebellion and the ‘populist ghost’ are now terrorizing Nepal, just as the so-called ‘communist ghost’ terrified Europe in the nineteenth century. The communist ghost had ushered the world into ideological debate and welcomed the miraculous exploration in the unimaginable fields of science and technology. But the Nepali ‘populist’ ghost is in danger of being swept away by the possibility of showing the charisma of Kejriwal, let alone Trump, Bolsonaro, Orbán and Modi.

The scenario that has been seen in the uprisings and faceless movements around the world in the last decade and a half, which have basically encouraged regression and anti-democratic sentiments, is at a crossroads that is also applicable to Nepal. From the Tunisian uprisings called the Arab Spring to the Gen-G uprisings in Nepal, the experiences have not been pleasant. Nepal’s indigenous parties are moving forward by misusing the abundant potential for Nepal to be an exception. Right-wing ‘populists’ use social identity theory to mobilize voters and stir up fear, anger and nationalist sentiment.

In doing so, they target groups (including the working class) that react against progressive social change. They are more interested in polarizing society by creating a facade of religion, culture and tradition. Balen Shah is making the Luciferian image style original, from keeping a map of Greater Nepal in his office to calling everyone ‘FUCK’. He is always running away from being interviewed when standing in front of the public. In other words, the hero of one side of the Gen-G rebellion is only interested in mobilizing underground gangs. 

People all over the world accuse political parties of sacrificing public welfare for party interests, and even greedy, inferior and ambitious leaders of abusing their positions to fill their pockets.

However, anti-party movements are dangerous. They can weaken democracy in two ways – by pushing for processes that appear superficially democratic to citizens but actually weaken democratic accountability, and when such processes fail to yield good results, there is a danger of disillusioning citizens with democracy itself. The conclusion of most political scientists over the past decade that the common people may fall prey to the elusive trend of populism is proving true. Nepal is becoming a dangerous laboratory for this trend. 

Political scientists Frances McCall Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro of Yale University in the US write in their thesis titled Responsive Political Parties – ‘If voters are not disciplined, they end up living in a dream world. There, they think that the policies they like will be implemented without any cost or risk.

Such thinking is exactly like the habit of children eating sweets blindly just because they think they are sweet, forgetting the risks of stomach aches, tooth decay, diabetes, or obesity.’ The above context indicates the environment in which the general public is becoming victims of addiction due to the addiction to the ‘populist’ wave worldwide, which has led them to believe that everything can be done through ‘social sites’ and online. 

The disappearance of the Rabaku alliance agreements and memorandums on how to address social justice, identity, marginalized communities and class issues can be considered as the end of populist politics without turning into results. Although the agendas most vocalized by the 2062-63 people's movement and the Maoist war were written into the constitution, the confusion in practical implementation has created national frustration. What is the position on geopolitics, national interests and global challenges or the extreme opportunism of doing whatever comes along?

In fact, countries famous for long-term labor contracts and generous unemployment insurance are moving towards more flexible labor markets and, in response to poor livelihoods, voters are leaving the social democratic parties that fought for their interests in large numbers. As both poles of the left and the right are splitting into extremist parties, the 'ghost' once created by Hitler's socialism in Germany is waking up in Nepal in the guise of 'populists'. यसका केही बाछिटा अघिल्लो निर्वाचनमा परेपछिको विकासक्रमले देशलाई विध्वंस र वितण्डाको रसातलमा पुर्‍यायो ।

नेपालको दुर्भाग्य कस्तो बन्यो भने, दुनियाँभरमा संसद् भवन, केन्द्रीय सचिवालय र सर्वोच्च न्यायालयमाथि हुने जुनसुकै आक्रमणलाई पनि आतंकवादी हमला भन्दै निन्दा गरिएकामा नेपालको दहनमा उत्सव मनाइएको छ । कांग्रेसको थोत्रिएको दल र मक्किएको मुहिमले कस्तो आकार लिनेछ थप अन्योलपूर्ण छ । जेन–जी विद्रोहको खलनायकीकरण भएको दलले गरिरहेको ताहुरमाहुर र पुरानै आदतको पुनरावृत्तिले अर्को विस्फोटको चिंगारी हालेजस्तो प्रतीत हुँदै छ ।

वामपन्थको नवीकृत स्वरूपलाई जागृत बनाउने दायित्वबाट प्रचण्ड–माधवले कुन हैसियत प्राप्त गर्ने हुन भन्नेमा गम्भीर आशंका छँदै छ । फेरि पनि पुरानिया त्रिमूर्ति बनाम नयाँ प्रियतावादी त्रिमूर्तिबीचको प्रतिस्पर्धाजस्तो मतदाताको मुड बन्ने अवस्था देखिँदै छ । यस अवस्थामा प्रतिगमनको गहिरो गर्त कि अग्रगमनको नयाँ क्षितिज भन्ने रोज्नका लागि मतदातालाई प्रस्ट चिनारी नहुनु सबैभन्दा ठूलो चुनौती हो । अन्ततः निर्वाचन सर्वाधिक दुविधाको राजनीतिक उपक्रम बन्ने निश्चित छ ।

नवयुवा पुस्ताको विरोध एकाएक विद्रोहमा परिणत भएर विध्वंसको शंख फुकिरहेको अवस्थालाई भूराजनीतिक दाउपेचसँग जोडेर हेरिइरहेको यथार्थ हाम्रासामु छँदै छ । यही सन्दर्भमा सन् २०२५ ले वैश्विक रूपमा केही रोचक भूराजनीतिक शब्दावली परिचय यस सन्दर्भमा सबैका लागि उपयोगी हुनेछ । 

क्याम्ब्रिज डिक्सनरीको वर्षको शब्द ‘पारासोसियल’ को अर्थ ‘कुनै व्यक्ति र प्रसिद्ध व्यक्ति (जसलाई उनीहरू चिन्दैनन्), किताब, फिल्म, टीभी सिरिजको पात्र वा कृत्रिम बौद्धिकतासँग महसुस गर्ने सम्बन्धसँग सम्बन्धित’ हो । कोलिन्स डिक्सनरीले अचानक लोकप्रिय भएका शब्दहरूलाई निगरानी गर्ने गर्छ । यस वर्षका विजेता शब्दहहरूमध्येको एक हो ‘क्ल्यांकर’ । यो शब्द एआई च्याटबट र प्लाटफर्महरूप्रति मानिसहरूको कुण्ठा र अविश्वास व्यक्त गर्न प्रयोग हुन्छ ।

जर्मनीको प्रसिद्ध लांगेनसाइडट डिक्सनरीले आफ्नो युवा–वर्षको शब्दका रूपमा ‘दास–क्रेजी’ लाई छानेको छ भने डिक्सनरी डटकमको वर्ष शब्दका रूपमा ‘—६७—’ अचम्म लाग्ने छैन त ? शब्दकोशका ग्रन्थहरूबाट हामीले कम्तीमा अक्षर र संख्याबीच भेद गर्न सक्ने अपेक्षा गर्थ्यौं, त्यो परम्परागत शैली पनि अब फेरिँदै छ । किनभने विशेष गरी जब कुनै विशेष संख्या बच्चाहरूमाझ पागलपनको हदमा ट्रेन्डी हुन्छ भने, त्यसले सबैखाले सीमा भत्काइदिन्छ । हाम्रो जेन–जी विद्रोहको कारण यही नै थिएन र ?