Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
After A Week Of Freedom, Rudy's? SAFO?
Hillary's Westchester
It has been a week of living at the house of a family friend north of the city in Scarsdale, I believe it is in Westchester county. Never imagined I would share a county with Hillary. I have been a Hillary fan since 1991. But I hope to move to the city at the earliest. Believe it or not, but I miss the subway. The subway is the most New York thing about New York, I have long maintained.
No Anger
I am no Nelson Mandela, not even close, and you don't get time served credit for detention, but he came out not angry. They already took enough of my time, he said. I long made up my mind I was going to seek a fresh start, get back to work, take a second bite at the apple, take care of the legal details, but otherwise get back to working, living.
If I end up making some barbey comments, I hope all will take it in good faith. I am not angry, it is just that I have not blogged in a while. Allow me a few expletives here and there. Skip as necessary.
Fresh Start
My political contributions to Nepal and Obama have been through my digital democrat ways. So I thought I will give a few hours to Nepal and Obama each week, other than that I will steer clear of all political events in the city. Now I feel I should not be so hard on myself. So I am thinking of dropping by at Rudy's on Thursday and at this SAFO event. Likely Justin Krebs long forgot my name and face, but I will try my luck.
SAFO celebration Thursday, November 20th, 8:30pm at Apple Bar
Creative Angst
I feared I might have lost my man Friday Adam. But he is still on. He is now married. Anna is just an amazing human being. Lucky man Adam. I am trying to meet up with my second Adam. Hope that happens soon. At one level I do fear I might start going to too many events again. There is a part of me that says get totally consumed by the startup. No more political socializing. I am having to pick up the pieces. Six months lost, that means I get to shift the deadline for the two products by three months and get down to some intense work. It is called living dangerously, living on the edge.
A Different Kind Of Socializing
I keep talking about Web 2.0 and Web 5.0. If I were to totally subsume myself into startup work, I think that is going to greatly impact my socializing ways. You do the intense web 2.0 stuff for work, and you balance it out with intense 5.0 that is not formally work, but you could not do the 2.0 without the 5.0. Kind of like matter and antimatter. Got to coexist.
Dean, Barack
Dean 2004 was Grassroots 1.0, Obama 2008 has been Grassroots 2.0. I find myself wondering what shape and form Grassroots 3.0 will take.
My Cousin Barack
I want him to feel my physical absence and my love. He is my cousin like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison are best friends. I am a Karl Rove he does not have to pay for, only I am no Karl Rove. That guy could never run for public office himself, I could, it is just that I don't see me doing it. Rove is short of a political genius. The thing is anyone standing next to Bush would look like a genius, why only Rove?
Barack's presidency is an amazing point in world history. And I am so glad I can follow his moves through Google News. In a city like NYC, almost everybody is a small fish in a big pond. Unless you are ridiculoulsy high wattage - like Barack and Hillary - you pretty much get the anonymity of being a nobody. Charming.
Micro Economics, Macro Economics, Globo Economics
Before Keynes and FDR came along, we had micro economics but no macro economics. I think this crisis will allow Barack to carve out a global financial architecture that will serve the planet for decades. Looks like everything is going global, including the American presidency. This dude did his elementary schooling in the Third World, like I did. I told you, he is my cuz.
Barack's New Kind Of Politics, My Nonviolent Militancy
I am a declared student of Barack's new kind of politics. For one Barack has proven it can be wildly successful. I don't fully get it, but I am learning, and I am also skeptical as to its universal appeal. I propose my nonviolent militancy to topple Third World dictators. And Barack's new kind of politics itself could be succeeded by what I might want to call scientific progressivism.
Barack And Race
My experience so far has been the average white American gets really unsettled when you just mention race as a topic. You don't have to accuse anyone of racism or get into the policy nitty gritty of race relations. You just mention race and people lose it.
Barack tackled that real well. By proving me wrong. My attitude was and still is we have to talk about race. That is how you make progress on race. He is like, no we don't. We make progress on race by not talking about race.
This dude is white. He was raised by a white mother, by white grandparents. I think Barack's mother has done as much for race in America as MLK. Because Barack is biracial he instinctively sees the stupidity of racial anxieties. That guy is black but no, he is not violent. That guy is white but no, he is not racist.
News
Holder Seen as Justice Choice as Obama Forms Team New York Times, United States
Barack Obama must sideline Bill Clinton before making Hillary ... New York Daily News, NY
Two for the Price of Two
Clinton endorses Clinton as Barack Obama's secretary of state Los Angeles Times, CA
President-elect Barack Obama puts CBS' '60 Minutes' on top of ratings New York Daily News, NY
Archival footage: Barack Obama has a sense of humor! About Rahm ... Los Angeles Times, CA
Hill Heavy Hitters Filling Obama's West Wing Lineup
Watch CBS Videos Online
Watch CBS Videos Online
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Madonna Of Global Politics
The Madonna Of Global Politics
Hillary just so happens to be the most famous woman on earth. There are rumors galore that Barack wants her to be his Foreign Minister, and that she is eager for the job. I hope both rumors are true. There are also rumors she is smarter than Bill Clinton. We will find that out for sure after her eight years at the State.
Charlie Ranjail
The first thing I ever said to Dan Berger, Helpless Young White Male Dan Berger, was this: "So if Hillary becomes president, does Rangel become Senator?" That question might become of unexpected relevance soon even though Ranjail wanted Leecia Eve where Paterson is today. He disapproved of Spitzer's Paterson choice by derisively calling Spitzer "the smartest man on earth." Ranjail sure has made his contributions to the black people as dumb stereotype. But then Ranjail and Paterson's father were part of Harlem's Gang Of Four.
Watch Out For Ranjail
The dude is excited. Only a few weeks back he said he is going to get his money where Paulson got his money. The Democratic upswing that started in November 2006 shows all signs of going on for eight years straight. It does not have to end then. But if it ends it will be because Ranjail got his way and ushered yet another era of fiscal indiscipline to the Democratic ways. Get that guy out of Ways And Means. The tax thing did not do it. Maybe the Senator thing will.
Bill Perkins for Congress!
Bill Clinton, Racist?
By my very high standards yes, Bill Clinton is a racist. He was the most powerful person on earth, and he did not do zit for total debt relief for Africa. This white boy from the South has done a whole lot for Africa since he left the White House, but not quite enough.
McCain In The Cabinet
I propose we put him in some closet so I don't have to look at him. The dude did scare me in September. Looks like he scared more than me. Barack went on to raise $150 million that month.
The Four White Manhattan Organizations
DL21C, Drinking Liberally, DFNYC, MYD. There is a part of me that says avoid them all. Just stay away. They are all trouble. I am going to completely stay away from DL21C unless I am explicitly told by that organization that things have changed. Change? Ah, that Barack buzzword. I don't know about the other three either. Barack captured DL21C - I heard on the radio - but that might not be my story.
Do you think Justin Krebs harbors ill will towards me? Do you think Lewis Cohen will mind if I show up for his events? Al is not too fond of Dan. Maybe I can show up for MYD events, but I don't feel all that young. I got some grey in my beard.
In The News
Barack Obama's vetters study Bill Clinton's foreign tiesTimes Online, UK
Video: Obama, Clinton Discuss Top State Job AssociatedPress
Obama Ponders Hillary For State U.S. News & World Report
Mr. Obama’s Team Of Rivals? CBS News
John McCain, Barack Obama meeting now in Chicago. "The national ...Chicago Sun-Times, United States
Barack Obama and John McCain meet for first time since The Thrashing Los Angeles Times
McCain, Obama Vow To Work Together NPR
Racial incidents sour Barack Obama's victoryTelegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Crime spree after Obama victory Asian Image
Is The Rise In Hate Crimes Because Obama Got Elected? HULIQ (press release)
Obama election spurs race crimes around country The Associated Press
Barack Obama launches weekly YouTube broadcastsTelegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Illinois banks on Obama buzz to boost tourismAtlanta Journal Constitution, USA
Obama quits Senate, starts building core team Press Trust of India
Winning by Losing: Why Barack Obama Shouldn’t Want a Filibuster ... OUPblog
Kennedy Returns To The Senate CBS News
Barack Obama juggles policy before puppiesMelbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Presidential Pooch Pick Offers Peek Into Policy Bloomberg
Obamas won't get puppy before White House move The Associated Press
Michelle: WH will be 'full of life' MLive.com
Obama scores big ratings for CBS interviewThe Associated Press
Ratings: Obama Is a Winner for 60 Minutes Seattle Post Intelligencer
Obama committed to green energy, auto bailout CNET News
Obama Says He Will Do `Whatever It Takes' on Economy (Update1)Bloomberg
Will Obama's White House Be Open To The Media? NPR
Barack and Michelle Obama Give First Big Interview Since Election ... Women on the Web
Transition can be time of risk, Obama says Chicago Tribune
LIers seek Obama inauguration tickets from local polsNewsday, NY
Lawmakers Flooded With Requests For Obama Inaugural Tickets Tampa Tribune
Barack Obama will follow Lincoln’s lead in choosing bipartisan CabinetTimes Online, UK
Obama Faces Political Minefield With Appointments Wall Street Journal
Obama's Transition To President May Be "Easiest" Part CNBC
Bill Ayers: "The question is, What is terrorism?" Salon
Presisent-elect Obama Must Surrender His Blackberry, Says Gov't ...Wired News
Barack Obama is a Quitter: BlackBerry Addiction, Smoking and Emails Post Chronicle
Obama might have to kick his CrackBerry habit Sydney Morning Herald
Barack Obama earns 60 Minutes big ratingsNational Post, Canada
Barack Obama will find closing Guantanamo is easier said than done Telegraph.co.uk
Capturing or killing Osama my top priority: Obama Expressindia.com
Obama promises moves to rebuild US reputation Belfast Telegraph
Barack's Gadget BlackoutSky News, UK
Sports of The Times Sorry, Mr. Obama, College Football Isn’t Sensible New York Times
Obama will steer clear of cultishnessCalgary Herald, Canada
King relative voted McCain Tulsa World
King Estate Considering Suit Over Unlicensed Obama Items New York Times
Jackson calls Obama administration 'a chance to start over'Baltimore Sun, United States
Jesse Jackson concerned about Bush's last days The Associated Press
Conversations: What's Next For Iraq?NPR
Gates Under Consideration for Obama's SecDef? KBTX
Why Obama Will Continue Star Wars TIME
Does Obama have a sense of humour? Historic proof uncoveredguardian.co.uk, UK
Albright serves as Obama proxy at global summit AFP
Bush assures world leaders of 'seamless' transition to Obama Press Trust of India
Obama's election bodes changes for Guantanamo prisonersAFP
Barack Obama lifts '60 Minutes' rating to best since 1999Los Angeles Times, CA
Teddy: I'd Like To See Obama Sign Health Care Bill In First Year TPM Election Central
Barack Obama’s Health-Care Reform May Help Many PeopleeFluxMedia
Protest against priest who says Obama vote requires repentence Raw Story
Obama wins 1 of Nebraska's electoral votes The Associated Press
Obama announces more White House positionsCNN
Obama’s early appointments look a lot like the 1990’s WSLS.com
Congressional staff offer rich pickings for incoming Obama ... The Hill
Barack Obama would never win in AfricaDaily Monitor, Uganda
THE ISSUE: Barack Obama is the first Black President of the USA ...The Statesman, India
Obama transition team gave 'positive indications' on ties: PM Press Trust of India
Obama and McCain pledge 'new era of reform'AFP
Is there more sex because of Barack Obama?Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Obama dreading 'loss of anonymity' as 44th US presidentAFP
Michelle Obama to her husband, Barack: "Don't drop the ball, honey ... Комсомольская правда
Paterson rules out interest in Clinton Senate seatNewsday, NY
Veteran operatives fill Obama team MLive.com
Obama lifts ceiling of dreams for black men Boston Globe
Iran to hold conference on Obama and future ties with USEarthtimes (press release), UK
Obama Says Economy, Security Are Top PrioritiesVoice of America
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A MLK Style Death Awaits Me In Nepal
A MLK Style Death Awaits Me In Nepal
July 16, 2008
201 Varick St, NYC
I fear political assassination upon return to Nepal between now and the 2010 election because of (a) my ethnicity: I am a Madhesi, (b) my political beliefs: I have a firm commitment to democracy and social justice, (c) my political abilities and the intense visibility that will invite upon my return: Barack Obama, Howard Dean, Terry McAuliffe, David Pollak all know me, I have played a central role to the three mass movements in Nepal in April 2006, January-February 2007, and February 2008, and (d) my association with the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, the organization that has best countered the Maoists politically.
My fear comes from (a) remnant elements of the old political order who lost much after the democracy movement of April 2006 that turned the poltical order upside down, (b) the Pahadi power brokers of the three largest parties in Nepal, the Maoists, the Nepali Congress, and the UML, (c) specifically the Maoists who might see me as an American agent, (d) elements of the Maoists who might still harbor their original dream of a one party communist republic, (e) elements of the Maoists who see the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum as their number one threat, (f) rivals from the Madhesi rights camp, (g) one or more of the armed Madhesi groups who might find I am not in tandem with their separate country agenda or their violent methods, and (g) mafia elements hired by any of the forces described above.
It is going to be very easy to finish me off. I am not going to have any security detail. A likely scenario is one person with a handgun who manages to flee. Or I might get poisoned. Or I might get killed in a choreographed road accident. That is how the life of the last charismatic Nepali leader ended: Madan Bhandari in the early 1990s. I am a MLK to the 13 million Madhesis on the planet. If I go to Nepal now, I die a MLK death.
America Needs Me: A Case For Political Asylum
June 24, 2008
Rikers Island
I came to the United States on a student visa in August 1996. I was a student five years at Berea College in Kentucky. Berea is the number one liberal arts college in the South. Within six months of landing I got myself elected student body president at Berea, first time in the college's 150 plus year history a freshman had done such a thing, first and last.
In 1999 I was one of the founding members of a dot com company that went on to raise $25 million during its second round before it went down during what in the industry is known as the nuclear winter. I was also team member number two of another dot com that sought to challenge then industry leader AllAdvantage that paid people for watching ads while surfing the web. That company also closed shop once the nuclear winter set in and there was a massive dot com meltdown. The founder Paul went on to Duke.
You can work for a year after graduation. During that year my college sweetheart proposed to me and we got married. I got a green card. She was the smartest student at Berea. She had spent her first semester at Macalester, the Kofi Annan college in Minnesota.
It so happened that we ended up spending quite some time apart. There was travel involved on my part. She had a semester long internship in Australia, another subsequent semester long internship in Thailand. Somewhere along the way we fell out of love. I moved to New York City. I was a few months away from renewing my green card, something you do within two years. My ex still cared enough about me to suggest I renew the green card before we filed for divorce. I refused for emotional reasons. I passively let the deadline pass. As of winter 2005 my green card expired. Our separation paper said we had no children, no property to divvy up, and that she will get 5% of the income from my first published book. She had not asked for that 5%.
I have not worked any illegal job since. I have eaten into savings, swiped credit cards; recently I have borrowed money from my business partner. Adam Carson was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley before he quit and joined my team. The technology company I have founded has raised round one money, thanks to Adam, but I can't pay myself a salary because I am out of status. I was thinking I would grow the company a little more and then apply for a green card based on that. A friend of mine, a fellow Madhesi from Nepal, got his green card through his Seattle based software company. But now I am in a rather urgent situation, and I have decided to seek political asylum. I have an extremely strong case. If I show up in Nepal right now, I am dead meat.
The king of my country pulled a coup in February 2005 and took over. The country already had gone through a decade long civil war led by the Maoists in which 13,000 people died in active combat, twice that many committed suicide. The Maoists of Nepal had proven themselves to be the largest, deadliest ultra left group this planet saw since the end of the Cold War. At their peak they had 80% of the country.
In February 2005, three forces in Nepal were at loggerheads: the monarchists, the Maoists, and the democrats. Since February 2005 no Nepali outside of Nepal has put as much time into the democracy movement of Nepal as I have. Part of the reason I let my green card expire was because I was so busy thinking about the 27 million people in Nepal - days, nights, weekends, it was a zombie existence - I literally was not thinking about myself. There would be piles of unopened mail on my floor. The work I have put into Nepal's democracy and social justice movements is going to win me the Nobel Peace Prize. It could happen in 2008, 2009 or 2010 by the latest. If it happens in 2008 or 2009, I will have broken MLK's record.
What happened in Nepal in April 2006, January-February 2007, and February 2008 was magic. If Nepal can become a multi-party democracy of state funded parties and one where at least one third of the legislature is female by law, what happened in Nepal during those three mass movements will have been the French Revolution for this 21st century.
I went to the best school in Nepal. The number two guy in class went on to Harvard to Goldman. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, I never went to Harvard. When Bill Gates was 19, he launched a company. When I was 19, I launched a political party.
I am a Madhesi in Nepal. In Rwanda they got Hutu and Tutsi. In Nepal they got Pahadi and Madhesi. Jesus was a Jew. There are 13 million Jewish people on the planet. Buddha was a Madhesi. There are about 13 million Madhesis on the planet. That is how many black folks MLK had when he was doing what he was doing.
More than 40% of the people in Nepal are Madhesi. Of the 30,000 Nepalis in NYC, maybe 30 are Madhesi. That should tell you of the filters in Nepal that work against the Madhesis.
I am half Nepali, half Indian by birth. More than 99% of the Nepalis in America are not my ethnicity. More than 99% of the Indians in America are not my ethnicity. I need to point out the ethnic politics in countries like Nepal and India are way more complicated than the racial politics in countries like America. Barack did not have it tougher growing up.
Please check my Nepal blog for my work into Nepal: http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com. Please check my Barackface blog for my work into Obama 2008: htp://democracyforum.blogspot.com. Barack knows me, as does Howard Dean. Terry McAuliffe knows me. I have a feeling the Clintons might be aware of my presence. All the top politicians in Nepal know me or of me.
There is a concrete mathematical theory called the butterfly effect. A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon forest could be the reason a cyclone hit Bangladesh. What happened in Nepal in April 2006, January-February 2007, and February 2008 were political cyclones. I was the butterfly flapping my wings in New York City. What I did I could not have done from Kathmandu.
In April 2006, over a period of 19 days, about eight million people out of the country's 27 million came out into the streets to shut the country down completely to force a dictator out. The Maoists wanted to take credit but they had been pushing for an armed uprising all along. The seven democratic parties kept pushing for a mass meeting here, a mass meeting there, a daylong shutdown here, and a daylong shutdown there. I am the father of the concept of continuous movement in the Nepalese context. I pushed the concept from the very beginning. If there is a tortoise sitting on the fence, chances are it did not randomly get there.
All the political actors and parties that took credit for April 2006 were fundamentally opposed to the Madhesi movement of January-February 2007 that was a more intense movement than April 2006. February 2008 was the second chapter of the Madhesi movement and the third chapter to the April 2006 revolution itself. I was the one constant to all three.
When Upendra Yadav, now leader of the largest Madhesi party and fourth largest party overall after the April 10, 2008 elections to the constituent assembly in Nepal, landed in Los Angeles in July 2007 for the annual conference of Nepalis in America, his first words were "Where is Paramendra Bhagat?" They took him to the hotel. He again asked, "Where is Paramendra Bhagat?" They had to fly him over to NYC to meet me.
I was at a Nepali event in Jackson Heights in Queens. Some MPs from Nepal were on stage. I was sitting in the front row. Hundreds were in attendance. In the middle of the program one MP got off stage to come sit one seat from me to get his picture taken with me. Then he got embarrassed and said he was trying to get the crowd into the background of the picture.
In February 2006 Madhav Nepal, then leader of the largest political party in the country, was put under house arrest by the royal regime. A month later he managed to come online wireless. His brother lived in the house next to his. The first person he contacted was me. We chatted on Google Talk. Madhav Nepal is a Pahadi.
The civil war in Nepal is officially over. Nepal had elections on April 10. Why would I feel unsafe in Nepal today? Me going to Nepal would not exactly be like Benazir Bhutto going back to Pakistan and getting killed. I have never been Prime Minister of Nepal, but I was thought of as a future Prime Minister when I was at high school back in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. Result? The Pahadi teachers and administrators destroyed my final three and a half years of high school experience. Besides I am not going to have Benazir's bulletproof car, her bodyguards, and her money. I guess you could say there were declared threats on her life. I don't have any known declared threats on me.
So why do I have safety concerns about going to Nepal? Do I know for sure that I will be in harm's way if I show up? No, I don't. But my instincts tell me I will not be safe. Why? There are a few different reasons.
Nobody in the Nepali diaspora put as much time, effort and talent into the democracy movement in Nepal as I did. The old regime is gone. A new set of people have come into power. A lot of peple who used to be very important are not important no more. They don't have their old prestige, but they still have money and resources to inflict damage. In a country like Nepal you can get killed and although there will be all sorts of rumors, no one will know for sure who did it. Not claiming responsibility is the best way to do it. I do fear the anger of those who have lost much with the onset of democracy in the country.
April 2006 saw the democracy movement, but January-February 2007 and February 2008 saw the Madhesi Movement. I am a Madhesi. This was like our own civil rights movement. Upendra Yadav has been the face of that movement in Nepal. Until March 2008 Upendra Yadav did not move around like a free man but rather an underground political worker. He would always have 12-15 people with him. Very few people knew where he spent his nights. He did nonviolent political work but he moved around the country like there was a price on his head. I got to meet Yadav in New York City for a few days in July 2007 when he flew over, his airfare paid for by a Madhesi entrepreneur in Russia who recently became Russia's Manager Of The Year.
Why would someone want to shoot and kill a Martin Luther King? Why would some random person want to do that? I am a MLK to the 13 million Madhesis on the planet. Of the six biggest parties in Nepal, three are Madhesi. The top leaders of those three parties are practically my fans. The top leaders of two of those parties used to be on the central committee of the party to which I was Vice General Secretary before I flew to America in 1996. Both have been cabinet members, one a few different times.
What might work in the favor of my safety though is that although all the top politicians in Nepal know me, I am not exactly a household name. I have mattered fundamentally to the peace process, the democracy movement, the Madhesi movement, but my work has been primarily to suggest tactics, strategy, and moves. In that I have almost been like a political consultant to the peace process. Also, my ways have always been nonviolent. So I don't exactly have people waiting to get "even" with me. But all it would take is one bad apple, one sick mind, one twisted heart.
And there is always jealousy. People like me who fight for equality for Madhesis and nonwhites sometimes lose sight of the fact that our own peoples can harbor our worst enemies. Bob Marley made it big in America and Europe. He went back to Jamaica and was shot at.
Talk of physical harm, it has already happened. My youngest sister lives in the city. She is married to Bisun, a Madhesi who went to the same high school in Kathmandu as me, was a few years junior, he went to Harvard, now works at Columbia Medical Center where Bill Clinton got his heart surgery.
Bisun's father was brutally murdered about a year ago. His body was chopped into pieces like a butcher's meat. The police said at least five individuals must have been involved. To this day no one knows for sure who did it. There were all sorts of rumors. Two of the largest rival armed Madhesi groups blamed each other. 700 armed cadres of one left the group and joined the other as if in protest. Some people blamed the Maoists. Others blamed some low caste groups in the village. Some blamed some Muslim youths in the village who a few days later fled. The largest armed Madhesi group blamed the Prime Minister of the country - Nepal has never had a Madhesi Prime Minister - and retaliated by murdering a close relative of the Prime Minister. If you are going to kill a Paramendra Bhagat relative, we are going to kill one of yours. That was the thinking. In a case of internalized rage, Bisun ended up blaming his own brother and his wife.
I want to make it absolutely clear that I have never had any contact with any armed Madhesi group ever and there have been a dozen of them. But their thinking highly of me should tell you how much I have mattered to the Madhesi movement.
But the worst happened a few weeks later. The story about the Muslim youths caught fire. My family lives in the eastern plains of Nepal. In the western plains a prominent Muslim from the Prime Minister's party was murdered by two gunmen on a motorbike who managed to flee. Many suspect one of the two largest armed Madhesi groups might have been involved. That murder sparked riots that engulfed a few different districts. The riots were Pahadi-Madhesi, Hindu-Muslim. The riots lasted two weeks and were so bad the police and the army were not able to penetrate hundreds of square miles for those weeks. There was much damage to lives and property. It is very possible there is leftover anger. Do you think there are at least some people who don't believe I have had nothing to do with any of the armed Madhesi groups?
Dawood ran - runs - the Mumbai underworld from Dubai, Karachi. Mirja was Dawood's top guy in Nepal. I was never mafia, but I was very good friends with some people he was very good friends with. We knew of each other, met a few times. He was a wildly popular politician. At one point he was a cabinet minister. I guess they don't do FBI background checks back there in Nepal. A few months after I came to America, they pushed 42 bullets into Mirza's body. They could not afford the news that he was "still alive." Dawood retaliated. His rival Chhota Rajan ran his business from Bangkok. There was an attempt on Chhota Rajan's life in Bangkok.
I came to America in 1996. I never left.
Safety is my number one personal reason to press for asylum, but I would also like to press the special talent narrative. A Nepali music entrepreneur I know and several Nepali movie stars and artists got their green cards in the special talent category. I am a very special talent. America needs me, and America needs me in New York City. Sending me even to Kentucky is going to feel like deportation.
I am the un-Bin Laden. I mean no disrespect to Christianity and Christ and if I use this metaphor it is because it is such a vivid one. Bin Laden is the anti-Christ, I am Christ. If 9/11 has been the modern day Pearl Harbor, the first major revolution of the 21st century happened in Nepal. Between eight years of a Barack-Hillary presidency, a possible Mayor of NYC who will get behind my idea of a new definition for voting rights in this city to engulf everyone who lives inside the city boundaries, and my tech company that will work to get hundreds of millions of new people online, I think you are looking at a total spread of democracy by 2020. The day all Arab countries have been turned into democracies is the day the War On Terror ends. There are two aspects to that war. There is the part about killing mosquitoes. The US military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies working with their counterparts in other countries get to kill mosquitoes: that is not my area of expertise. Someone like me helps drain the swamp. Everybody you need to spread democracy everywhere on earth lives right here in New York City. America needs me, and America needs me to be in New York City.
China is also going to be a multi-party democracy. But likely it will become a multi-party democracy of state funded parties, and the Chinese Communist Party will continue in power for a few more decades. Taiwan and Tibet will be states in a federal China.
My company is the best thing I could do for my country and countries like mine. Not everyone has to come to America like I did. The Internet is what will bridge the gap between the First World and the Third World, between the west and the rest. I could not work on my company in Nepal. I have to be in New York City to grow my company. I am going to list my company on NASDAQ. I am going to turn this into a Silicon City. I am going to be the reason the center of gravity of the tech industry shifts from California to New York. My very young company alone might be reason enough to give me legal status.
I would like to share a story. In ancient Greece there was this mathematician, I forget the name. One day he was out in his yard, drawing lines in the sand, deep in thought. That very day his country got conquered. He was famous enough that the conquering emperor sent a soldier to fetch him for a private audience. The mathematician told the soldier he was in the middle of solving a theorem and waved him off. The soldier got angry and hacked him to death. Over the past few weeks at times it has felt to me like I am that mathematician. I have been doing cutting edge work in politics and business. Don't hack me.
Warren Buffett once said he could not be CEO of General Electric. My management and leadership style by now places a heavy emphasis on Web 2.0 and a heavy consumption and production of mind food. The worlds of academia, media, politics and business are seamless. I might have more in common with a theoretical physicist than your stereotypical MBA.
I am not someone who wants to stay back in America for the good life. I am someone who decided staying back is how I could make the greatest positive impact on the country I grew up in, the country that I left, and other countries like that one. Although I don't mind the good life.
America is a concept, America is an idea, that concept, that idea is democracy, it is the market mechanism. When was the last time an immigrant into America played a larger role for democracy and social justice in his country of origin and intends to play a similar role for all countries that are not yet democracies? The medium is not the message, but my role would not have been possible before the advent of the Internet. I am a new breed revolutionary intending to wage wars with communications technology. I am a digital democrat. I am the un-Bin Laden. Neither of us seem to need states or standing armies. He is for violence. I am for nonviolent militancy, the kind where you shut a country down completely for three weeks to bring a dictator to his knees.
Burma did not have a Paramendra Bhagat or Burma too would have succeeded. Tibet did not have a Paramendra Bhagat or Tibet too would have succeeded.
My next court appearance for the two charges of harassment and violation of court order are on August 13. I intend to fight both charges and come clean. I am on a $2 bail and an immigration hold. I want the immigration office on Varick St to start my political asylum process right away. Let me pay my $2 bail and get out. Give me a state appointed attorney for the asylum procedures. I am not someone trying to run. I am not someone trying to hide. I expect to list my tech company on NASDAQ in seven years or less. Someone like that intends to play by the rules, function in the system.You can make me show up at your Varick St office once a week if you want until a final decision is made on my request for asylum one way or the other. If you end up deciding my case lacks oomph, deport me. Tell me when and where to surrender, and I will surrender. But don't keep me locked up. If you do, a country 10,000 miles away suffers. The work of mainstreaming the Maoists in Nepal is not over yet. I am still very much needed on a near daily basis to monitor the situation and to suggest political moves. And while I am at it I am also going to be useful to the Obama-Clinton ticket. Barack knows me. He has taken advice from me a few times. My young tech company also needs me on a near daily basis.
When you are doing cutting edge work, by definition you will not have much in the name of company. The money also seems to wait. At one point Einstein said, "Through my work I have put a clock in every corner of the universe, but I don't have enough money to put a clock on my own wall." I happen to need state appointed attorneys right now.
I expect to be proven not guilty on charges of harassment and court order violation. I expect the two charges to be dismissed or dropped. I expect to be given work authorization papers immediately, and ultimately I expect to be granted political asylum. And after I win the Nobel I expect President Obama to give me an honorary US citizenship.
For now give me back my personal freedom right away.
(statement prepared for the immigration services people on Varick St)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Lipstick On A Pig
Palin Is Lipstick, McCain The Pig: Lipstick On A Pig
September 22, 2004
201 Varick St, NYC
Sarah Palin is a career woman, and that is amazing, but that was made possible by the struggle of progressive women a generation ago. Sarah Palin being a career woman is proof progressive politics works for women. But Sarah Palin is not where women want to be a generation from now, or today. She is wrong on policy. She is conservative and wrong on life choice issues. Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton. She will set the clock back on issues that matter to progressive women. She might never accumulate the power to overturn Roe V. Wade, but she sure has tried her entire career, and she will not cease and desist. 10% of the Hillary women itching to vote for Palin and the devil, what are you thinking? Did you check with Hillary?
When Hillary was at Yale and dating Bill Clinton she was a no makeup woman. There sure is something sexist about makeup, especially lipstick, especially thick lipstick. Bill Clinton's mother came to see the woman that he was apparently serious about. Her reaction? "Can't you get something that looks more like a woman?" Bill Clinton's mother Virginia belonged to a whole different generation of women. She was a thick makeup woman. She was used to painting her face. The symbolism of a Sarah Palin harkens to that bygone era. Lipstick is only lipstick but the symbolism of it is immense. I am not for or against lipstick. I don't judge women who wear lipstick. Most of them look just fine. But there is something inherently sexist about makeup. It goes with the objectification of women as a gender. Sarah Palin's gender policies will take women back to a bygone era. She is to women what Clarence Thomas is to blacks. Looks can be deceiving. Progressive women, beware. Democratic women, beware.
Why would anyone want four more years of Bush-Cheney-McCain-Palin? Have you not seen enough damage? Over eight years Bush-Cheney-McCain-Palin have blown up the public sector's finances, and they have blown up the private sector's finances. What is there left for them to blow that you will give them four more years? The Great Depression asked for a Franklin Roosevelt. The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression asks for a Barack Obama. It is okay that he is black.
The way elections work is one person wins, another person loses. Barack won the Democratic primary. Hillary lost. It is not like Bush said to Kerry in 2004, you almost won, so you get to appoint half the people to the cabinet. The idea always was that one person between Barack and Hillary will win, and the party will unify behind the winner after the primary was over. The 18 million people who voted for Hillary are all Democrats. They all now get to vote for the Barack-Biden ticket. Just take a look at McCain's picture. He is scary. Don't vote for him.
Vote for Barack. Vote for Biden. Biden, what a man.Biden is that man who will deliver that crucial state of Pennsylvania to the Democrats and will tilt the election in our favor. He is a man for the working class. 35 plus years in the Senate and his net worth is $150,000. At least Biden knows how many houses he owns. McCain is pie in the sky out of touch. Someone ask McCain on national TV how much for a gallon of milk. He doesn't know. You got that tip from me. 35 plus years in the Senate and Biden has refused to live in that city. He is not your Beltway candidate. Palin, on the other hand, might be from another country altogether. She thinks Grand Rapids is in Iowa. You want an outsider but not that much of an outsider.
Biden is a top mind on foreign policy. Barack is lucky to have him on the ticket. A new, young president can't afford to have third rate Third World dictators test his timbre. Biden will make sure that does not happen. The Barack-Biden ticket, oh what a ticket.
John McCain has been a rubber stamp to the Bush-Cheney policies over the past eight years. He has parroted Bush on Iraq. He has gone along with Bush's reckless financial policies. To elect McCain to fix the meltdown on Wall Street would be like hiring a burglar to guard your house. How much sense does that make? The burglar will steal some more, folks. Connect the dots. Let me help you connect the dots.
Someone once said John McCain is a war hero. War hero? What war hero? The dude was fighting the wrong war. Martin Luther King opposed that war. Bobby Kennedy opposed that war. A young idealist Bill Clinton opposed that war. Remember? McCain was fighting the wrong war. That makes him a pig. To make a pig look beautiful you are going to need a lot of lipstick. One Palin is not enough.
There is going to be some party crossover. Some Democrats are going to vote for McCain-Palin. Many Republicans are going to vote for Barack-Biden. Most independents are going to vote for Barack-Biden. I am not worried some Democrats might vote for McCain-Palin. The party needs some weeding out anyways. Jesus. Don't they understand that to vote for McCain-Palin is to vote for Bush-Cheney? I have pictures of McCain with Bush.
Bush-McCain blew up a trillion dollars and counting in Iraq. Do these people think money grows on trees?
By his own admission John McCain is an economic illiterate. That is not the guy you need at the helm at this time, if ever. You elect him president and the final two investment banks will also vanish. Mark my word.
I mean the guy is 74. You elect him and in a few years Palin is going to end up president. Do you really want that? She is going to make Dan Quayle look like Albert Einstein's cousin. Think about it. The guy can't lift his shirt.
Barack's time is now. Elect Barack. Go Barack Obama. Go Joe Biden. Think health care, think Barack. Think Social Security, think Barack. Think fiscal sanity, think Barack. Think peace, think Barack. Lipstick on a pig is a grand illusion, and it is not in Michigan, it is on a national ticket.
After 500 Years, Finally Barack
August 23, 2008
Uniontown, Alabama
If the white male bonds with the white female based on racism, if the white female bonds with the white male based on racism, if the white male and the white female bond based on sexism, those are all non progressive social arrangements. Racism and sexism come in the form of comments and attitudes. If the white male bonds with the minority male based on sexism, that is not progressive. If the minority male bonds with minority female based on sexism, that is not progressive. If a minority male bonds with another minority male based on racism, internalized racism, that is not progressive either. If a minority female bonds with another minority female based on sexism, internalized sexism, that is not progressive either. Racism and sexism are like radiation, they can near objectively be identified and measured. Racism hurts, but so does internalized racism. The two are mirror images of each other. Internalized racism can play a major role in the breakdown of the family, for example. Black on black violence is a concrete manifestation of internalized racism. Race relations and gender relations are both like marriage. If the races and genders were or could stay out of each other's sights we would not be talking race and gender relations. They will not, they can not, then don't want to, and so we have race relations and gender relations. Race and gender become complicated as identity politics. People look unthinking, incapable of progress even when that progress might be win-win. Reality feels like inertia. Race and gender become more manageable as issue politics. Then we start thinking. We start measuring, we start observing, we start taking action. Social illness starts feeling like biological illness. Treatment feels possible. Race is America's original sin. Noone quite knows race like the blacks. The challege for black America is to stop using the word nigger. The challenge is to never forget slavery and segregation, but to work to create a new black identity that is not about slavery and segregation, but Africa. The challenge for black America is to discover Africa, the continent in its entirety, and to forge active bonds with that continent, to adopt towns, claim its art, culture, languages, traditions, the entire gamut of heritage, and also its challenges of getting rid of the remaining dictators, fighting AIDS, easing ethnic tensions, eradicating poverty, bringing about total debt relief. There is nothing vague about race relations. The challenges are rather concrete. Harlem is the capital of black America. Harlem has its work cut out. There is effort to be made, new political, social, economic space to be created. The top entrepreneurs will tell you,wealth is literally created out of thin air. Similarly political, social, economic space is created out of thin air. The new, positive black identity has to be created out of thin air. This is not about black America saying now it is our turn, we are going to push out the whites and take their place. The white space will not shrink, the black space will expand, and in the process the already big white space will expand even further. When China grows richer, America grows even richer. It is like that. After 500 years, finally Barack.
Jail Time
Me in jail is America fighting
The War On Terror
Never sentenced by any judge to serve time
On June 4 right after the primary ended
I was in court to face
An iffy harassment charge
And a bogus court order violation charge
Offense taken at my getting offended
By Hillary's Bobby Kenney remark, Hillary was venting
NYPD said we think
You are a threat to Charlie Rangel
Revolutionaries like MLK, Barack and me
We create new space
People like Rangel fill up that space
Over decades
By the way
Hillary can call me a Bobby Kennedy
Any day
The guy who got into a mess
In "June"
That was me
On June 4 I was
Completely surprised
To see the immigration peItisople
I did for Nepal, a country of 27 million
For no money
What Bush has not been able to do for Iraq
A country of 27 million
For a trillion dollars
But America has had me in jail for four months now
They got the wrong guy
Bush was spending money he did not have
Wall Street was lending money it did not have
It is called leadership by example
They jailed me, but they never tortured me
Coming from where I come from, I have been surprised
While in jail I have received two death threats
By two black guys, black like Rangel
One guy in for shooting a cop
Threatened to smash my head with the telephone
Another guy threatened to "snuff" me
I watched several fights, many shouting matches
I cooled down a few potential figts
I had a bunch of badasses gravitate to me
Seeking belonging in my leadership
Leadership comes naturally to me
Robin Hood, King Of Thieves
A German journalist did once call me
Robin Hood Of The Internet
I saw guys taken to the box
Somebody recommend my name
For the Nobel Peace Prize
Get me on Charlie Rose
But Queen Elizabeth was also in jail
Right before she became queen
And ruled for half a century
I read her biography while in Alabama
HRC put 18 million cracks
Into that glass ceiling for ERC
I got in the mess, oops
Being a Barack supporter has been
Harder for me after the primary
Than before
After the five Pandavas defeated the 100 Kauravas
The eldest Pandava Yudhistir went to see Dhritarashtra, his uncle
Father to the 100, Dhritarashtra said let me embrace you
Krishna arranged for Dhritarashtra to embrace a wax statue instead
Blind Dhritarashtra, the power of his eyes in his body
Crushed the statue, a Yudhistir replica
And the fight had long been over
The Tomb in downtown Manhattan where they first kept me
Single cell, a half dozen hard core criminals in the dorm
One said "Gandhi" and "Idi Amin"
Felt like being underground
Though a tall building
In the urban Amazon
The Rikers Island dorm weeded out of eight gang members
Right before they moved me in
They started showing two, three movies per day
I felt like a VIP political prisoner, paid attention to
Half dozen murderers in the dorm of 50
Awaiting trial, I coundted 10 Hoses
Inmates, detainees so look forward to commissary
I wonder if the whole world feels like a jail to women
That they enjoy shopping so much
Ramen soups are all the rage
My sister paid the $2 bail to the city
Upon the Nepali immigration attorney advice
Someone who once sat with me
On the Board of the Nepali Mandir in Queens
They made my sister wait seven hours
Second lawyer, a Harvard Law grad
Just like Barack
The Varick facility from where they sent me off
To Alabama, handcuffed, feetcuffed, waistcuffed
20 plus hours in the bus along familiar roads
I wondered how anyone drove those 18-wheelers
They sent me off after they realized
Maybe they ca't deport me
Right before I left for Alabama
My sister said my attorney said
The harassment charge has been dropped
Milk fresh from the cow in Alabama
Two stations on the radio, one Christian, another country
At one point sandwiched between two passing hurricanes
Back to Varick on a plane
Four detainees, four officers
12 years in America I had never been on a plane
Two days later at Varick they said pack up
At the last minute they said
Sorry, your flight has been cancelled
I watched my left hand shake like
It were someone else's hand
I was surprised, I was not feeling conscious fear
For the first time in life my hand shook like that
But I thought my deportation order of May 13 had been stayed
By my fancy Sri Lankan lawyer Rudra
Fearing a MLK style death for me in Nepal
Then they kept my money
Down to $81 from $860
Sorry your check from Alabama has not been cashed yet
And sent me off to Hackensack, New Jersey
I saw grey in my beard
For the first time in jail
I must be getting old
I have had grey in my hair
Since high school
Meta floor, metal ceiling, metal walls
Metal commode, metal washbasin, metal mirror
Metal beds, two, one above the other, screwed to the wall
Metal door, metal window
Metal table, metal stool, heavy metal
The inside of a submarine
My submarine cellmate, a construction worker
A black Muslim from Trinidad
Doing his Ramadan fast
He has heard of Rastafari, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism
But never Buddhism
Buddha was a Madhesi like me
America fighting, this is Guantanamo, yo
A country of immigrants hostile to
Immigration from the Global South
Getting called the Nelson Mandela of immigration
By an Albanian on his way to getting deported, at Varick
Also the next Karl Rove
I saw people who had been in America 45 years
Getting deported, people wo will end up homeless, getting deported
People married to US citizens for 39 years
Getting deported
I met a decent Mexican, no criminal record
Citizen father, citizen son, permanent resident wife
Getting deported
Robert Pollack on the Island
Half white, half black, a huge tech talent
Had worked several Wall Street jobs without a college degree
In for an assault charge
Pointed to me a friend on the outside
Another tech talent who has always been financially free
Possibly my second big catch for my company
Someone I went looking for but did not find
During my several trips to Columbia University
In the weeks prior
Badass Conales they brought to Varick
From some federal facility after his seven and a half years
On a drug charge. To be sent to Alabama on the same bus
At Varick he banged against the glass window
And yelled at the guard. I will kill you, he said
They had him and me sitting at the back of the bus, together
He became my number one buddy in Alabama
A mighty proud Hispanic
Lee left China after being tortured by the Chinese police years ago
The best chess player of all I met in four months
I never was able to beat him
During the Olympics he would say, I love China and the Chinese people
But I hate the Chinese Communist Party
He fought without a lawyer all the way to the Second Circuit and won
And they would still not release him
They were trying to transfer him to New Jersey with me
Last I saw he was banging against the door in protest
So they kept him back at Varick
I am fighting for my freedom, he said
Badass Anderson said
He has been to the box
Every jail he has been to
My faith is the only thing that keeps me going
He said
The biggest fight that erupted in Alabama was over TV
The Hispanics wanted to watch Spanish
The Blacks wanted to watch English
I personally saw nine guys handcuffed
And taken away to the box
There must have been more
Fellow Nepali Rig, Anderson reported
Was asleep. He went from bed
Straight into the fight
One guy Italian
He was two weeks old when his parents
Brought him to America
He was past 70
And they still
Deported him
Makes no sense
America was the only country
He ever knew
Globalization asks for
A new definition of immigration
The emphasis should be on
Documenting everybody
The law will have to adapt
To the new reality
Of immense mobility
The economic wheels will churn
And that is the way it should be
A total spread of democracy
Is America's responsibility
The public, private, NGO and informal sectors
Will all have to pitch in
Immigrants who come to America believe in
America, they are all entrepreneurs
It takes much initiative to
Come to America
They believe in democracy, they believe in the market
They are the frontline soldiers for democracy
For political, social and economic reform
In their countries of origin
They come, they work like crazy
All the petty jobs at the bottom rungs
Of the American economy
A steady flow of immigration is fundamental to
America staying the number one economy
The bottom layer of water is fundamental to
Boiling the whole pot of water
There is a strong case to be made
For the dignity of immigrants
In America, and everywhere else
Like there is a Universal Declaration Of Human Rights
There is a need for a charter
For immigrant rights
Universally applicable
Johnny wrote to a Christian radio station with my help
The Bible says stay true to your wife
But America wants to break up my marriage
Of more than 30 years, he said
Lakhi Manjit, diabetic, a Punjabi from India, in Alabama
Owns two restaurants in Queens, spends $1000 a month in jail
I am diabetic, deport me or release me, he said over months
They will do neither, the drama has gone on for over a year
The jail in America has been constructed
For the Minority Male
12% of the national population
60% of the jail population
Shame on America
Rap is insame, crazy insane
A lot of insane energy, too much venting
Upendra Yadav is now foreign minister of Nepal
He will create a Madhesh state in a federal Nepal
Residency not citizenship requirement for voting
Citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents, documented workers
All city residents, documented and otherwise, for city elections
Would be America fighting
The War On Terror
Voting rights like for the Boston Irish 150 years ago
Also for immigrants from the Global South
Racism will have to end
It has gone on for too long
Jail time, a near death experience
For me and for my very young company
I have worked out
I had a 600 pushups day
I had a 600 crunches day
I had a 600 situps day
I have played chess, I have written, I have read some
Coming to jail, a strange way to get offline
Strange rehab from too much time spent online
Of too much Web 2.o, too little Web 5.0
"Mother thinks you run this country, and look at you!"
My sister said when coming to see me on Rikers Island
10 days after June 4
I could not remember a single phone number
When they got me
I did not go to court
Expecting to be detained
Tears in her eyes she said
"People in this part of the world are strange!"
Internet access, voting right for this 21st century
Let there be light, connect every human mind to the web
Perhaps the only office I want for me is
Chair of my tech company
There is not any political office for me
Like there never was for MLK
I want to invent an office for me, and I mean invent
Intense 2.0, intense 5.0
Post-ISMs individual group dynamics in my personal space
In jail they take away your freedom
They take away your privacy
Barack is my cousin by way of Maya
Maya is an Indian name
They found out in New Hampshire
Barack is cousins with Dick Cheney
And we lost
In 2012 emphasize my name
In New Hampshire
McCain-Palin, lipstick on a pig
After 500 years
Finally Barack
I am the un-Bin Laden, yo
You shut a country down completely for three weeks
To force a dictator out
The day all Arab countries have been turned into democracies
Is the day the War On Terror ends
I got the formula
Release me if you want to fight
The War On Terror
My Deportation Officer point blank lied to me
He said your 90 day review for
Possible release from custody
Is up on October 8, you will be released
On October 9
Not true
On October 6 I got told by ICE
You got an open case
You don't got no court date yet
October 6, 2008
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