"No One Started Genji Movement"

22 August, Kathmandu. The parliament building was surrounded by genji protesters. The police were using uncontrolled force to control the protestors.

Just at that moment, a police van tries to move past the crowd of protesters in front of the parliament building. Nothing happens to others, but one young man, who is not a participant in the movement, stumbles.

21-year-old Affan Kurniawan, who is working on the delivery of goods, falls, but the van does not stop. The van runs away after killing Affan mercilessly.

This incident is not of Nepal. This is the scene in front of the Federal Parliament building in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 28, exactly 10 days before the Genji movement in Nepal last year.

Affan's 'spot death' angered the protestors so much that on the 29th they set fire to the provincial parliament building in Makassar. Police offices and government buildings are targeted by the protesters. Houses of incumbent ministers and politicians are vandalized and looted.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the demonstration escalated and 10 protesters were killed and dozens were injured.

Youths were on the streets for weeks against the government's decision to increase the allowances of MPs while the people were suffering from high taxes and high prices. And leading the movement was the Genji generation. The video comparing the lifestyle of ordinary people with leaders and their families brought people to the streets.

The hashtags Gelapindonesia (Dark Indonesia) and ResetIndonesia (Let's make Indonesia new) were trending by the Genji generation.

As the movement turned violent, the loss of billions and peace and security continued to deteriorate. On August 31, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto stood with the leaders of other political parties and spoke in the name of the country and said that the decision to increase the allowances of parliamentarians had been reversed.

The Genji generation from the Philippines, 1400 kilometers from Indonesia, also took to the streets through the network at that time. They came to the streets saying that there was huge corruption in the flood control project, saying, 'We lost our tax money?' On the one hand, huge amounts of money were being spent on flood control and rescue, while on the other hand, people were drowning in floods.

The Genji generation started uploading photos and videos of leaders and contractors to search engines. Later they were 'exposing' the luxurious life of their family and relatives. Along with the hashtag Nepobaby, 'It is not the flood that is drowning our country, it is greed', 'We are drowning in the flood, but their children are living a luxurious life', the internet world was heating up.

The movement in the Philippines went through four stages. In the first week of August, the information about corruption in the flood control project came to the surface, in the second week, the video of the loss of livelihood of the victims started to be published, in the third week, the lifestyle of the children of leaders and contractors started to be exposed. And, in the fourth week, generation with Genji came to the street struggle. Most of the international media published the news that the anger of the youth of the Philippines was on the streets.

After the Nepo baby trend started in Indonesia and even further away in the Philippines, about four thousand kilometers away, suddenly the same trend started appearing on the social networks of Nepal, which was trying to show that the children of the leaders-employees of Nepal are living a 'luxury life'.

How did the Nepobaby trend of Indonesia and the Philippines come to Nepal? Online News has inquired about this matter. In Nepali context, the first video related to Nepo Baby was found to be posted on Tiktok.

More than three and a half million people have watched the video, which was uploaded on September 2 by the ID named 'Velvet Muffin'. Most of the comments said that such videos should be brought out more. Some people are happy to start such a trend in Nepal and say 'Now it's Nepal's turn'.

In the video, on the one hand, the lifestyle of Sher Bahadur Deuba's son Jayveer and Prachanda's granddaughter Smita Dahal was shown in the name of Nepobaby. In this video, the pain and suffering of the victims related to the flood in the Philippines was narrated. In other words, the video seems to have been influenced by the Philippines, regardless of where it was uploaded.

After September 2, three videos were uploaded simultaneously on September 6 from this ID. All of them were aimed at Nepobaby.

In those videos, pictures of the children of leaders and rich families were placed and said, 'We have to work hard and struggle here so that their passports become even thicker', 'Our struggle, their fun', 'Common people in Nepal have not even been able to exercise their fundamental rights, but they are uploading photos and videos of living a wonderful life.'

Along with 'Velvet Muffin', videos related to Nepobaby were uploaded on Tiktok from IDs like 'Wakeup Nepal', 'Nepal Zenji'. But those IDs are now deleted.

At that time the ID named 7545709787246365908 was very active. The videos in it have also been deleted.

Although 'Velvet Muffin' started with 'Wakeup Nepal' and 'Nepal Zenji' IDs, after September 4, people started sharing and posting Nepobaby related videos from countless IDs.

The first video came on Tiktok. However, in the case of Indonesia and the Philippines, Nepali people had been arguing vigorously on the social network called 'Reddit' for some time. Reddit is a social network where people don't reveal their real identities. Everyone is making their statements by hiding their identity.

Especially since the government decided to ban unregistered social networks in Nepal, the Genji generation started expressing their anger on Reddit.

On March 7, 2081, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology warned that social networks in Nepal would be blocked if they were not registered within one month. On the same day, a notice was posted on Reddit's subreddit 'Nepal Social' group warning the government to close the social network.

One user wrote, 'Is this decision made by the government for the people? They did it for their own benefit.

Most of the social media platforms did not come to register despite the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology's instructions. The government again issued a notification to give more time to be listed. A notice was issued on August 12 and a deadline of seven days was given. But the cabinet meeting on 19th decided to close all such social networks as they were not registered in Nepal by August 18.

Based on the decision of the Cabinet, the Nepal Telecommunication Authority sent a letter to all mobile and internet service providers to block 26 social networks.

Among those shut down were Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Reddit, Discord, Pinterest, Signal, Threads, WeChat, Quora, Tumblr, Clubhouse, Mastdon, Rumble, MiV, VK, Line, Emo, Jalo, OurPatro, and Soul.

The government's decision to shut down social media created an uproar across the country. But not all apps were closed at once. Because Reddit was running, the real debate about this decision of the government was going on in Reddit.

At 11:05 pm on the same day as the government announced the ban, a Reddit user named Rosti wrote, 'most of the Nepalese businessmen who are running their businesses with the help of Facebook and Instagram cannot survive due to the ban on social media.'

At 12:20 p.m., a Reddit user named Somayamoni wrote, "I don't think the government can ban any social network."

A user named Aculitham wrote at 04:05, "Yes, they don't close, can't you? It cannot be closed.'

On the very first day at 5:29 pm, a user wrote, “Vaigo bandh. Those who are in the mind will shut it down. The time has come to tie up all the thieves.

As the day wore on, the anger on Reddit was growing. Everyone was just looking for a way to express their anger. Some were using VPN to express themselves in the network and some in tea shops.

On the same day, social activist 'E:' posted a status on Instagram. He is probably the first person among the less familiar faces who indicated the need to protest against the government's decision to shut down social media. He also demanded the resignation of Communications Minister and Government Spokesperson Prithvi Subba Gurung.

Now I am in Yak Khark in Manang. Most of the people here are Messenger and WhatsApp users. Through which they can communicate with family and relatives. The business of some people here is run through social networks. But with this decision of the government, they have become a situation where dialogue and business will be stopped. I don't think so. Therefore, there is a need for a campaign and a demand for the resignation of the Minister of Communications. We need to see a young minister in that ministry who understands the impact and importance of the Internet.

The post of 'E:' has about three thousand likes and about a dozen comments. In the comments, Reason2Found supported 'E:' and wrote - 'Protest'. Ziabul Mustafa wrote, "We should have a rebel movement like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to throw out these poor and old leaders." Enough is enough! When will this country be okay?'

Who called the protest, who set the date?

The voice was raised, but it did not take the form of a movement. Expressions were coming that there should be a movement now, but there was no one calling for the movement. On 19th August i.e. 4th September, from the day the decision was taken to close the social network, preparations for the protest started. On the evening of September 6, the protest was announced. The daters are still anonymous.

What is interesting is that those who became known as Genji leaders after the movement are not aware of who called and set the date for this movement.

After the Genji movement, we met Miraj Dhungana, Raksha Bam, Tanuja Pandey, Anil Baniyan, Yujanraj Bhandari, Dheeraj Joshi, Majid Ansari, Pradeep Gyawali, Monika Niroula, Manish Khanal, Rijn Rana Magar, Arnav Chaudhary, Prakash Bohora, Amit Khanal, Bhavna Raut, Ojswi Thapa, Nimesh Shrestha, Aditya Karn and Akriti Ghimire. We asked - who called the Genji movement?

All of them got the same answer, "I didn't know exactly, I got to know from social media."

An Indian movie starring Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan was released in 2011 - 'No One Killed Jessica'.

In the actual incident, a young woman named Jessica Lal was murdered. Although there was a comprehensive discussion about the people involved in it, it could not be confirmed by the court.

The title of the movie was based on the true story of the legal proof of who was involved in the incident - No One Killed Jessica.

Although there were many leaders of the Genji Movement, it is not clear who started it. That's why the headline of this story is also - 'No One Started Gen G Movement'.

On August 22, Sabal Gautam and Purushottam Yadav reached the District Administration Office, Kathmandu to ask permission for a peaceful protest. Sabal says that they have fixed the date of September 8 (23 August).

He claims that on the same day that the social network was closed, he created an ID named 'Wakeup Nepal' on Tiktok and uploaded a video related to Nepobaby and fixed the date for August 23 that night.

Six of us set the date. All are my school friends, under 20 years old. Later, Purushottam Yadav ji also joined saying that he was interested," said Sabal, "We have tried to bring the Napobaby trend to the streets due to the ban on social media. If we held the street demonstration on Saturday, people would not come because it was a holiday. That's why we set Monday. But the movement turned out to be very different than expected. It also escaped from our hands.

According to a user who has been active in Discord since the beginning, there was a discussion to protest on September 6. Because it falls on a Saturday, it was believed that it would be easy for the Genji generation. But since Saturday will be a bit early and the information will not reach everyone, the discussion was held for Monday, September 8, said the user.

That evening there were only 15-16 of us in Discord. A discussion took place and I don't remember the name, but that same night, a poster was released by AI saying 'Date September 8, Location Parliament Building'. The user said, 'The next day, more than 10,000 people suddenly appeared on Discord. Most of them used more slang language. Head hunt should be done. If the cops recognize it, they will be afraid to go out, so it was said that a mask should be used that covers the whole.

According to Genji Aditya Karn, who is active in the movement, he organized a Zoom meeting on September 6 after seeing a poster with the date on social media.

In which there were alert young people including actor E. In the same meeting, Karna argued that the parliament building in Naya Baneshwar is a prohibited area and that the movement must be diverted to Maitighar somehow.

"I actively spread information about the prohibited area," Karan told Online News.

Another incident that prompted the Genji generation to take to the streets on August 23rd happened on August 21st. Economic Affairs and Planning Minister of Koshi Province Ram Bahadur Rana Magar, who came to participate in the legislative convention of UML, hit a girl and ran away.

The locals protested by blocking the road for a while in Harsiddhi in Lalitpur in anger that the minister's car had hit him and the girl ran away without knowing the condition of the girl.

This incident caused further outrage when the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli defended the minister and told him not to politicize the incident.

In general, a girl was hit by a car. He was taken to the hospital. There was no such intention. The party will bear the entire medical expenses of the child," Oli had said, "Fate has happened. No such damage was done. Sometimes such unpleasant incidents happen.

The numbers were estimates, the violence was not

After the government's decision to shut down social networks, all platforms like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat were shut down, but Tiktok was not shut down. Since Tiktok was already registered in Nepal, the government left it active. That's why users of all these platforms were flocking to Tiktok.

Till September 6, the popular face of social media platform Tiktok was busy with his daily 'content creation'. They used to upload videos on Tiktok on topics of their interest. But from the account of the same 'influencer' of Tiktok, a similar video was uploaded as 'mandatory' from September 6. In the video, there was a call to participate in the 'mass protest' to be held in Baneshwar and Maitighar in Kathmandu on September 8, i.e. August 23.

Ravi Chand Thakuri, who has nearly 140,000 followers on Tiktok, uploaded a video on his account and asked all the youth to participate in the protest on August 23. He had commented in the video that if he does not participate in the movement now, the country will never be formed.

All those who follow me should reach Maitighar tomorrow. The face of the country must be changed now,' was his appeal, 'If you don't stand up against corruption now, you can never stand up. CU tomorrow. Let's fight together.'

Similarly, another influencer Suruchi Budhathoki called on all the youth to participate in the movement on August 23. Expressing her anger, she said that the country will not be developed until the older generation is dismissed from politics.

"Now the bastards must be removed from the government. As long as there are boys, it will always be like this," she said. "Now we need youth to represent us. Will she continue to please and we have to go abroad and suffer?'

Although there was a call for participation in the movement to be held on September 8 through several such Tiktok accounts, the purpose and agenda of the movement were not disclosed. However, looking at the posted videos and banners, it was understood that there was going to be a movement against the ban on social media and corruption.

The video and banner made with the date of August 23 included slogans like 'The Final Revolution', 'We Are Punching Up', 'Stop Corruption', 'Time for Youth' and 'Enough is Enough'.

Not only the influencers, but those with negligible followers had extraordinary engagement on their accounts. There were millions of views and thousands of 'likes' on the post from many Tik Tok accounts such as Brief Nepal, Save Nepal, Defector, Finding My World and Truth Talk.

Although it was clear from the banners and videos that this movement was organized by the 'Genji' generation, it was not clear who was leading it. However, content creator Nimes Shrestha and Ashimman Singh Basnyat, CEO of ride-sharing and parcel delivery app Pathao, were seen in the background.

The video posted by Basnayat saying that change will not come only through social media has more than 200,000 views and 22,000 likes.

Basnyat made a call on the afternoon of 20 August from his Tik Tok account - 'Digital presentation is more important than physical presence.

Change will not come until you come physically," Basnyat said, "I myself will come to the protest on Monday. You support me to shake the country's dhamira through a peaceful movement, I give yours.'

Fake accounts were created as many as there were real accounts on Tiktok who appealed for the movement. Especially the young women seemed to be in favor of the movement being peaceful, while some young men also seemed to support their arguments.

Some said that the movement could be violent and called to be vigilant for security. Similarly, videos spreading excitement were also being uploaded from fake accounts.

In particular, an account created under the name of 'September 8' uploaded an AI-produced video of the burning of the Singha Darbar and the Federal Parliament Building, the capture of the Parliament Building and the raining of bullets with tear gas. Thus, the AI ​​image-like scenes posted on 6th and 7th September turned into reality on 8th and 9th September.

In-Depth Story 'IDS', which has more than 600,000 subscribers on YouTube and 100,000 followers on Tik Tok, shared a video of the violent movement in Bangladesh targeting Monday's protest from its Tik Tok account.

At the beginning of the video, it was said, "After the student movement turned violent, the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was forced to leave the country." Then the students occupy the Prime Minister's residence.

The report of the commission of inquiry formed under the leadership of Gauri Bahadur Karki to investigate the Genji movement has also concluded that some social media influencers are also involved in spreading misleading information during the Genji movement. Media influencers Tank Dahal, Sujan Dhakal, Shiv Pariyar, Himesh Pant and Bhagya Neupane have been mentioned in the report for spreading misleading information.

The Human Rights Commission report also concluded that more research is needed on the role of influencers such as film director Nischal Basnet, vlogger Sison Banian, TV show director Aman Pratap Adhikari, content creator Victor Paudel, Bhagya Neupane, Vivek Thapalia, Ashika Tamang, Ashimman Basnet, Tank Dahal and others during the protest.

Durga Prasain, a medical practitioner who is active in the royalist movement, also announced his support for the September 8 movement and that he would attend.

However, the Genjis not only made a video, but went to the house to remind him, Prasai said that he would not come.

At that time, the media was interested in how the security apparatus has prepared for how the movement that has taken up social media will manifest itself on the streets.

The then spokesperson of the Kathmandu Police Complex, Superintendent of Police SP Apilraj Bohora said that they are in a state of preparation. He said that the Kathmandu police have been put on 'high alert' to ensure security.

"Even though it is called a peaceful movement, we have received videos like Parliament building and Singha Darbar burning as per the surveillance. Therefore, we monitor that area in a sensitive manner," said Bohora, "It is natural to deploy more police than on other days, but if the movement is violent, we will not back down to bring those who violate the rules and laws to action."

But why was the movement not peaceful as the petitioner said? Who made the excitement? Why was the preparation of the state system weak and the response brutal? We will try to find the answer to these questions in the next story. The series continues.