A dreadful intimacy differentiates extortion from other forms of robbery. While pickpockets and burglars rely on anonymity, extortionists make it their business to be highly personal. Armed with knowledge of family, home, and assets to back up their demands, they can recite your schedule, earnings, and where your children go to school. They brandish this information like a weapon, and for the CPN (Mafia) such research pays off in a big way. The victim realises there is no place to hide and that their loved ones are at dire risk, causing stress levels to increase dramatically. The more terrorised the victim, goes the extortionist's cynical logic, the higher the payoff.
Victims of coercive extortion feel violated to a degree second only to the horrors of kidnapping and rape, and the trauma continues long after monies are paid. An unexpected telephone call or knock on the gate can set off irrational panic.
Nightmares and sleepless nights become the norm as fear and anxiety pervade daily life. The psychological wounds are worsened by the perceived need for secrecy, as the Maoists never forget to warn their prey to keep their mouth shut-or else. Donation terror, as it is eloquently called in Nepali chun dan atanka, is further distinguished from other economic crimes by the underlying jealousy and desire for revenge that motivate the perpetrators. The individuals who do Prachanda's dirty work are well versed in ideological justifications and openly malicious towards Kathmandu's bourgeois. Chilling echoes of the Khmer Rouge are evident in the party line that city dwellers must be taught a lesson for not supporting the revolution and will, in punishment, be looted until rendered 'naked'. This vendetta is intensely personal for both sides, and the hapless target of such rage is left not only poorer but profoundly traumatised. Those who resist are beaten with a purpose best described as perverse.
This racket had already funded the civil war for over eight years before Kathmandu was hit with a massive rise in demands last autumn, in what seemed a final fling before the party joined the mainstream. Those of us handicapped by the 'logic syndrome' expected this scourge to disappear when the Peace Accord was signed. That such deviant behaviour is explicitly banned in the agreement must be worth something, and for a moment even incorrigible gimlet-eyed seen-it-all cynic/realist-cum-meddlers like yours truly saw a ray of hope.
Alas, those addicted to free money through coercion are weak before their vice. The millions of unaccountable rupees paid by the government to support teenie-bopper 'cadres' stuck in cantonments and plump leaders lounging in the capital aren't enough, it seems. The latest wave of depredations targeting the business community is best illustrated by the vicious attacks on the Woodlands Hotel owner this past week. Mr Shrestha's brutal treatment should drive any thinking person to despair. Even those who hide behind ideology can never justify beating a man with iron rods to extract a 'voluntary' donation.
Politburo claims that this was an 'internal matter' between disgruntled staff and management ring pathetically hollow, and prove the Hand's theory we live in a Post-Truth society (see \'Post-Truth Nepal,\' #339) These latest avatars of extortion issue no receipts and ignore all proof of previous payment to the cause, denying any affiliation with the CPN-M. Those who were paid in the past, when contacted with complaints about the latest demands, advise support for the revolution. The Maoists, in the finest Mafia tradition, have strong territorial instincts and cannot tolerate competition, yet this new 'extortioniste-du-jour' is exempt from their infamous wrath. The Hand allows the reader to draw his own conclusions.
The war once fought against the army is now waged against private citizens. Extorted cash is used to support more of the same activity, and many more innocents are left deeply traumatised as the cycle continues apace. Nasty threats and coercive intimidation leave scars that fester long after the money is forgotten, and the Maoist leadership might well reflect on the enemies they are making. Revenge is in the air for the years of abuse and someday there will be hell to pay for this arrogant, parasitical attitude.
