The Fall of Nepal

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The overthrow of communism in Nepal started simmering during COVID, with youth employment never recovering, and joblessness hovering, now, still, near 21%, forcing much of the population to seek dangerous migrant work in Qatar.

With an average per capita income of only $1,430, which equates to less than $4 per day, more than 25% of the population lives below the Nepali government’s own poverty line. The sum of the richest 10%’s income is greater than three times that of the bottom 40%.

And, yet, there was Shrinkhala Khatiwada, daughter of former health minister Birodh Khatiwada, celebrating her graduation from Harvard on Instagram.

This is, of course, when she wasn’t skiing in Gstaad.

Or vacationing in Sydney.

And, if it’s Tuesday, this must be London.

She, somehow, managed to pack in all that between her active schedule of shopping, which is, of course, the source of all the other pictures on her Instagram feed.

Saugat Thapa, son of former law minister Bindu Kumar Thapa, did so much shopping he was able to construct a designer Christmas tree made of luxury brand packaging.

That was between his duties as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a position to which he was elected by way of his family. It’s, obviously, also, a great place to wear spread-collar Saville Row suits.

A busy young man, he managed to fit all this in around his tea times.

Here he can be seen cuddling an overweight husky, which probably eats more than the average Nepali makes per year. Oh, and, don’t forget the Louis Vuitton sunnies!

Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba’s son, Jaiveer Singh Deuba, married a Nepali pop star, Shivana Shrestha, in what might be considered “The Wedding of the Century.”

Of course, for a kid who sports a $15,000 watch, the ring was…

… obviously, more than adequate.

And shit like this, officials and their kids enjoying excessively luxurious lifestyles, publicly, started popping up enough that Nepali Zoomers on social media started to take notice.

Soon, a viral hashtag was born: #NEPOKIDS. And with that, the quantity and detail of reporting on the matter exploded.

If the purpose of social media is to make others jealous, then it had worked too well.

This became an uncomfortably popular pastime, so the parents of all those rich kids stepped in…

… and banned all social media across Nepal, immediately, Thursday, Sep 4th.

The only thing I can imagine Zoomers getting more angry about than corrupt Boomers, and their spoiled kids flexing it on Instagram, would be not having access to social media where to complain about it all. Violence erupted immediately.

Police killed 19 in one night, redoubling the protestors’ rage.

After that the Prime Minister resigned, the army flipped, backing the protestors, and the police surrendered.

The government toppled, parliament burned.

Like haciendas owned by wealthy Mexicans during The Revolution, the first, second and third homes of government officials were ransacked and torched.

The first coup d’TikTok has spoken: No more posting about your family’s ill-gotten loot on the Internet. I imagine most of them are thinking, then what’s the point?