The young protesters who overthrew the government of Communist Party leader K.P. Sharma Oli last week also made a point of storming the Communist Party headquarters and throwing down its infamous hammer and sickle flag.
Prime Minister Oli announced his resignation last Tuesday, driven from office by the huge youth protests known as the “Gen Z Movement.”
The incident that sparked the protest was Oli’s government attempting to ban most popular social media platforms. The ban has since been rescinded, but protesters said it was just the spark that ignited years of anger about mounting government corruption. The movement truly caught fire after several protesters were gunned down by the police.
Oli represented the Communist leg of a triple alliance that also included Nepal’s Maoists and the socialist Nepali Congress Party. The ruling alliance has fended off a few other challenges to its power over the years, but seemed completely incapable of dealing with the large, energetic, and spontaneous protests unleashed by the social media ban.
This could be partly due to the vast gulf that has opened between Nepal’s political elite and ordinary citizens. As the Gen Z protesters explained to reporters, the social media ban did not just stifle their ability to speak and organize politically — it threatened to eliminate online platforms they were using to find jobs and run their business ventures.
Hellbound and Down 