[pf]apology, from person on-the-spot: "Nepal news".

At 06:02 6/6/2001 -0400, Gary Barrett wrote to Positive Futures list:
>To the statement:
>"Perhaps it doesn't matter to you what happens in this far away tiny
country, so unrelated to your own lives. But at least you can know the
truth and tell others so these people will not have died in vain."
>
>Nepal is a country with a strong Buddhist presence.  I personally care a
lot. 
>
>I think that Americans might be interested in knowing that Maoist and
Marxist/Lenin factions within Nepal would just love to take advantage of
this situation.  And the area is ripe for CIA tinkering.  
>
>Nepal is a buffer between Tibet/China and India.  That Nepal could become
a political tinderbox is real. 
>

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At 05:37 8/6/2001 -0500, Cynthia Edwards wrote:
Subject: An apology

Friday June 8.

Dear friends worldwide,

I have been criticized widely for the letter I wrote regarding the events
in Nepal 5 days ago. This is a letter of to clarify what I said.   Please
pass it on to the sources which you sent my first letter to.

I wrote in the heat of the moment which was a mistake.  I also made
statements that I should not have claimed to be "the truth".  That was an
arrogant, foolish, and dangerous thing to do. Because of knowing a lot of
history here as well as knowing Nepali people who have been involved with
the struggle for democracy here, what was being said made a lot of sense.
I should  have said " this what I have heard" " this is what some Nepali
people are saying".  I apologize for that mistake.

At this point I do not think many people know the truth of what actually
happened or who was really behind it.  And those who do, aren't saying.  If
many Nepalis do not trust what is being said, I think they probably have a
very good reason.    They know each other, they know their culture, and
they know their royal family.  And as foreigners we need to respect that.
If we claim that those people who have a different experience, have a
different opinion, or know what we don't, are simply trying to cause
trouble  then we are denying freedom of speech and opinion.   If all
Nepalis want to let this go, accept the current monarch, and move on then
so be it.  But on this end, that is not what I see.  I  hear a lot of fear
that if they say or do anything in disagreement with the official version,
they will be in danger. I hear resignation.

Perhaps it is quite telling that editors of Kantipur paper have been
arrested on charges of sedition (fact)  for  simply printing an article by
a Maoist leader, exercising his democratic right to voice his OPINION, most
of which had already been printed in foreign press anyhow.  This carries a
minimum penalty of 3 years in jail and my journalist friends certainly are
not taking that lightly.   I belive this is rightly being interpreted by
Nepali people as a loss of several basic freedoms.

The circumstances and events during and after the murder of certain members
of the royal family of Nepal still do not point to what is being claimed,
that it was a one man job.  The  local history leading up to it adds
further information to be factored in, as does the history of the region.

People have asked me can I prove what I reported...NO.  At least not right
now.   But I urge all of you to consider that many political events and
scandals which could not be proven in the moment, have been in later years.
 Perhaps we would do well to remember the Kennedy assassination, or Martin
Luther King's murder, or events from the Korean war which have only
recently been admitted to.  We ALL could provide examples from our own
countries that differ from the "official " report, where many people know
something different but are not listened to or  are silenced.  Does that
mean we are ALL crazy or subversive? Does it mean we should just accept
what we are told and never question?

In closing, I encourage all of you to recognize that the "official story"
is  only one version of what happens, anywhere.
  Knowing what we know of how these things go, I leave you to make your own
conclusions.

But please, don't label me or anyone willing to take the risk of trying to
provide more information as subversive or a trouble maker. I have learned a
valuable lesson here and I will continue to challenge injustice where I see
it, but just a little differently.


  Cynthia Edwards
Kathmandu, Nepal
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sent-on to Positive Futures list by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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