I just finished reading the great article 'Voice of the people' (#176) by Kishore Nepal on your website. It is good to see that there is an avenue opening up for the peoples' voices to be heard. Television, radio and print are extremely powerful tools. It is always easy to ask the obvious questions, but what is needed are more answers, like the ones the people have on Mat Abhimat. So how does one build off of this kind of initiative? Possibly through creating a non-partisan platform for the voices of the majority to be heard and to publicise the acts of courage by those individuals and communities who dare to speak out for peace. TV is an amazing start but still limited in reach, temporal in nature. A platform for the voices of people to be heard could take on many forms, but might start as an independent website (as a repository) that collects stories, interviews, photo-essays, news articles, audio/video clips and opinions of Nepalis across the country demanding peace. From there it could then branch out in partnership with newspapers to circulate flyers into areas not reached by TV, celebrating those who speak out. With the low literacy rates in rural areas and broad radio access, the media with highest impact might be community based radio. The ideas are endless, action is much more difficult, and from what I just read about Mat Abhimat, the voices are starting to be heard.

D Drevo,
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