On April 18, a devastating avalanche on Mount Everest (known in Nepal as Sagarmatha and in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China as Chomolungma) resulted in the deaths of 16 Nepalese mountain guides, 13 of whom were of the Sherpa nationality. The tragedy has enraged the Sherpa community and ignited a militant struggle to improve the pay and working conditions of mountain guides throughout Nepal.
Although the mountain known in the West as Everest, the highest peak in the world, had been explored and mapped by the native peoples of Nepal and China since at least 1719 under an assortment of regional names, the Western narrative is that the mountain was “discovered” by the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, a project of the British East India Company, a corporate entity that effectively governed India for much of the 19th century. Everest was the name of a former British Surveyor General of India. The Communist Party of China has called for changing the name of the mountain to reflect one of its original, regional names.
After the autocratic Nepalese monarchy helped the British put down an Indian rebellion in 1857, relations between the ruling classes of Britain and Nepal became friendly, with an agreement of friendship signed between the two countries in 1923. Wealthy European thrill-seekers began arriving in the country shortly thereafter. “Scaling Everest” became a symbol of athletic accomplishment and courage.
Sherpa guides essential to European climbers
The Sherpa people have traditionally inhabited the Himalayas, a mountain range that has some of the highest peaks in the world. Known for their courage and skill as climbers, it has been speculated that the Sherpa people may have genetically adapted to better survive in extremely high altitudes.
Ever since the first European expedition of the mountain in 1921, the Sherpa people have been exploited as “guides,” scaling the most treacherous parts of the mountains ahead of the Europeans while carrying heavy equipment, to prepare the way, making the climb less treacherous for the white “explorers.”
The guides face some of the most dangerous working conditions in the world, and there have been countless deaths of native guides during expeditions in which the Europeans survived. Successful expeditions, meanwhile, such as that of Sherpa Tenzig Norgay and Englishman Edmund Hillary, were documented in the West as the sole accomplishment of brave Europeans going where no (white) man had gone before, obscuring the central role of the bravery and labor of the regional guides.
In the 1990s, when Nepal was still under the monarchy, European and U.S. capitalists set up firms offering mountaineering packages to Westerners who could afford to pay as much as $100,000 for an adventure. The Nepalese crown received $11,000 in royalties from the Western firms for every seven tourists who bought a package. Many of these new climbers had no training, making the duties of the guides that much more daunting. The guides, meanwhile, are paid around $1000 to $5000 for an entire season. Russell Brice, a French capitalist who owns one of the mountaineering agencies, was recently quoted as saying, “If you start paying everyone Western wages, that totally upsets the balance. These people [the Nepalese guides] don’t need that sort of money.” (Wall Street Journal)
While it is true that Nepalese guides receive salaries that are high by local standards, the expedition companies could not make a profit on mountain climbing without their labor.
It should be kept in mind that Sherpas do not have a history of recreational mountain climbing. They become guides because it is an opportunity to make a great deal of money. Kaji Sherpa, a survivor of the avalanche said, “..we need the money. I want my kids to get a proper education so they don’t have to work as porters and guides.” (WSJ) It should also be kept in mind that the labor of the Sherpas is not labor in the normal sense, it’s the kind of work with the very real danger of death. And even if they escape death, Sherpas push their bodies to near-death levels in conditions of extremely thin air, cold, storms and heavy lifting (for the predominantly white climbers).
In 2006, a revolution led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) kicked out the monarchy and opened up new possibilities for the people of Nepal. With the royal regime gone, there is greater potential for the country to overcome underdevelopment, but the royalties given to the government are small compared with the profits of the tourism industry capitalists.
Guides go on strike
Four days after the tragedy, a meeting of 300 guides was held, with 200 voting to strike and shut down the mountaineering season unless their demands were met. A 13-point manifesto was signed by 25 leading guides, including some Westerners. Demands included setting aside 30 percent of climbing fees to create a fund for guide relief; increasing the amount paid out to families in the event of death in order to cover the traditionally high costs of a funeral and increased support from the government for injured and disabled guides who currently must rely on the charity of the expedition companies. They also seek increased safety precautions. Specially trained guides known as “ice doctors” study and prepare the trails prior to each climbing season. One demand is that the ice doctors not be punished if they determine that a trail is not safe.
European climbers have started leaving the country, unwilling to attempt to climb the slopes without the help of Sherpas. In response to the strike, one Western tour company employee said, “The Sherpas are using their grief to destroy an industry that is handed to them… They’re getting into a situation where they will destroy the golden goose.”
It has been alleged that militant Sherpas are policing the mountains to make sure that less class-conscious guides do not sneak vacationers into the slopes, although this has been denied by Sherpa strike leaders. The expedition companies have requested that the government send in soldiers or police to control the situation, but the government declined.
Tourism Ministry spokesman Mohan Krishna Sapkota said the accident had been “a bitter experience,” and that the government “is serious about fulfilling the main demands” of the Sherpas, including looking at improving safety. (WSJ) The government has already agreed to raise minimum insurance rates for the guides and to use its “royalty” fees to create a relief fund for the families of dead guides.
However, the Tourism Ministry is also adamant that the climbing season continue. It should be understood that beyond climbing fees, the climbing industry plays an important role in the Nepalese economy overall.
The guides however are remaining resilient in the demand to share in the profits that their labor creates.
The Sherpa strike should be supported by all progressive people. However, the end of the exploitation of the Nepalese working class can only be achieved if the Nepalese revolution is completed and capitalism is abolished from Nepal.
