It has been five months since the Gen-G uprising, where the government was toppled, but Nepal's new political class and its constituencies look eerily similar to the old ones. The same capitalist interests finance campaigns; no one can win an election without money.

The same business elite makes policies and finances politicians. The Gen-G revolt did not bring about any fundamental change – which was expected. Because, it was not a revolution based on solidarity with everyone, including the working class, women and the queer community, but a revolt based on middle-class anger against the elite.

The revolt was against corruption and some questionable and oppressive laws. For example, the Information Technology Act, the Government Employees Salary and Allowance Act, the proposed amendment to the law limiting the powers of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. But the extreme point was the ban on social media. Let's analyze this materially and think – was there any difference between the day of the protest and five years ago? No.

The poor were still poor then, the homeless are still homeless, the 'unskilled' workers are still exploited. The inequality of wages and the cost of living was as terrible as it was on the day of the revolt. If this revolt had been based on class consciousness, the situation of the workers, the proletariat in our foreign countries, the systematic oppression of the wage-labor class by the capitalist-owner class would have been the main goal.

What did the revolt achieve? It threw out the existing oppressors. Even if it gave satisfaction, the fact remains – what the revolt achieved was only an opportunity to kick out the old masters and elect new masters. As a society, we remained slaves to wages. This time, we are excited to hand over our chains to our new masters.

This arises from the fact that people do not believe in their collective power. We Nepalese people believe that we can overthrow anyone in power through the power of the people, but the lack of political education creates a belief in the ‘great man principle’. We do not believe in ourselves to improve and develop this country, to take this country forward.

As a society, we are always waiting for a great man to come and ‘save’ the country, to save us. That is why we are excited about having a new boss. It was a revolt of anger, where there was a lack of political education, which ultimately created a lack of political purpose. The revolution stopped on September 9, when the ministers fled into hiding. The thirst for stability that followed made us satisfied only with new elections, rather than destroying the state apparatus that killed our brothers and sisters.

There are three fundamental questions that reveal the failure of the revolt and the immature prevention of the revolution. First, property relations. Who owns the means of production? Still the corporations and individual owners of the capitalist class. The same families control production, the same business houses dominate trade and services.

As for us, we would be very happy if our new bosses passed laws to increase the minimum wage and the basic wage for technical or corporate jobs. CEOs and owners who do not contribute to production get richer from our wage slavery. Workers still do not own their workplaces, nor do they control their labor. They are still separated from the goods and services they produce.

Second, the class structure. Has anything changed? Women are still unpaid workers in the fields of domestic work and care – cooking, cleaning, raising children, caring for the elderly. They are still exploited by their own ‘families’ or masters. They are workers among workers and their exploitation is socially normalised. The caste system still exists.

The upper classes maintain their superiority in social practices and administrative structures, yet actively object to the idea of ​​diversity, equality and inclusion. Similarly, the issue of the liberation of sexual minorities is neither thought of nor discussed. ‘LGBTQ Plus’ people are still stigmatised, treated as outsiders and anyone who supports their cause is accused of being brainwashed by ‘Western nonsense’. While treating another person with dignity and equality is a simple and humane matter.

Third, the state apparatus and power structure remain the same. Even after the police force brutally shot and killed dozens of children and young adults, leaving countless injured, the police force remains intact. There has been no attempt to hold them accountable, change their structure, or change their function. The police have always protected and will protect property and capital before people. There has been no attempt to show symbolic reform. The inefficient bureaucracy still exists,

and you still have to sacrifice your entire day to do any official work. The power structure of the previous regime remains intact, following exactly the same electoral system. So, did the uprising really achieve anything? The answer is clear – it did not.

The uprising threw out individuals rather than systems. It expressed real frustrations but without building any working class strength or long-term unity. Everyone is back to cheering for their favorite political parties like a sports team. A real revolution would have seized the means of production and given them back to the people, dismantled the police force that murdered children, abolished the caste hierarchy, and freed women from unpaid labor and exploitation. What did we get instead? Another election. Just empty promises of internal reform from the same parties and now another competition between the managerial class for the right to manage our exploitation.