The month of December is shaping up to be a hectic month for bhandas. The political situation is tense with a recent outbreak of small violence in some of the far western regions of Nepal. Accusations are flying about who is responsible for the death of a group of landless individuals who were killed over a land claim dispute.

The Maoists are accused of recruiting the landless individuals to attack a local police force and the ruling government coalition of parties is accused of using unnecessary force against a marginalised group. The result: petrol strikes, protests, sit-ins at government offices, school closures, and large national wide chakka jams which essentially close down any vehicular movement all over the country. This month alone 4 different groups have issued calls for bhandas which totals about 15 days this month – some will be less effective and will hardly be noticeable while others will be highly effective and close down everything.

I respect that a foundation of democracy is the right to free speech, which often includes protests as a method for communicating. And many rights holders, who have been denyed so much over the history of Nepal, need to utilize their voices, feet, and political power to assert their rights. However, what is being forgotten in the cacaphony of important voices is that with rights comes responsibility. Nobody here ever talks about responsibilities. It would seem that everyone has a whole slew of rights owed to everyone while nobody has any responsibility in seeing that these rights are upheld.

And as such, nobody will take responsibility for the killing of the landless individuals. Each group has clear demands about whose rights have been violated but finger pointing in silence fills the air when questions of responsibility are raised. But this isn’t really new(s) as the ongoing strife between political parties has been continuing for the whole year we have been here. It remains to be seen whether we will come out of December unscathed or a shattered mess of harsh words, good intentions, broken promises, and several paces behind where we started.

So, in the upcoming month of bandhas I send out into the ether a small reminder. That along with rights come responsibilities – what you take as a right from the State then becomes a responsibility in return. “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. Thus, in my opinion, every right has an equal and opposite responsibility. Democracy is not democracy without responsibility. And a bandha is not an exercise of rights unless it is accompanied by an equal responsibility to find solutions and move forward.