Comments on: Jed Brandt: Letter From Kathmandu

By: J.H. Prynne

J.H. Prynne — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:29:02 +0000

Jed, I just returned from Kathmandu (on my first visit there) and your report runs very close to my own impressions, this is a real crisis of ideas and people standing up for them, making sense of history and the struggle for even basic justice. Only scaremongers will call this the work of terror when a righteous revolutionary war operates in a completely different logic. The Maoist leaders have been courageous in not being pressured or enticed into empty compromise; also, they are working out a new kind of pragmatics which learns from the rigid doctrines of their precursors. In 2002 Baburam Bhattarai already said, ‘The Second National Conference of our Party held last year has already resolved to discard some of the negative and harmful experiences of the international communist movement’; and then, ‘we want to develop a new model of democracy’; and then, ‘thus the revolutionary strategy must be different’ (_Monarchy Vs. Democracy_, pp. 140-1, 143, 157). So, as well as the full sentiment of class solidarity and resistance to oppression here’s evidence of new thought, revision of Mao just as Mao broke with Stalin. I guess the early stage of a fundamental uprising often looks strongly based in its principles, the troubles come later, but even so there’s no cause here to be sceptical before the event, since the lines of struggle are clearly drawn, fitted closely to national history and objective experience, and the leadership so far has not been intimidated by power plays from outside interference. Always risky to be hopeful, but much worse to be downcast even before the real show gets going. I hope I can continue to tune in to the rest of your reports and analysis.

By: land

land — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:42:37 +0000

Peace to the street – War on the palace!

Great slogan!

By: Grasshopper

Grasshopper — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:27:58 +0000

Thanks some amazing insight from inside the revolution!

By: land

land — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:03:57 +0000

Thanks G. It would be good to have more stories like this. “People using the day of closure to cycle around the city without pollution.”

By: G

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:06:16 +0000

Land, the “valley of smoke” there is different than the pre-industrial Los Angeles area described by the natives. This is now from modern smog, i.e the burning of pollutant fossil fuels, mostly from old car exhausts. It fills the air with thick gray smog that probably sinks (I know it when I was in Asia, esp. as I passed some factories along the highway–could not escape the terrible smells). If one is not familiar with traveling to many other countries the sickening level of pollution will come as a shock. You can’t even see the sky. You will find that you need to wear a mask to go outside in the traffic areas, esp. if you are prone to respiratory ailments, and you will find that your skin and clothes get covered by a black layer of soot.

I was reading that this is one of the reasons the people there love it when the Maoists declare strikes, and the closures are announced in Kathmandu, because it means that this is the perfect day to cycle around the city without the pollution!

By: Alastair Reith

Alastair Reith — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:59:11 +0000

I’d be very interested in learning more about the Maoist trade unions and how they operate.

By: land

land — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:47:34 +0000

I like the parts where Jed talk abouts living in Katmandu. Red flags and all. Someone told me that the Native people used to call Los Angeles before it became a city “the valley of the smoke.” Because when they built fires the smoke only went up so far and settled. Sounds like the K city is kind of similar.
This trip and the info you send us is exciting. Makes the rev come even more alive and Kasama has made it very alive even before your trip.

By: Rick Atkinson

Rick Atkinson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:04:58 +0000

Thanks Jed. It’s difficult to get even a cloudy picture of what’s happening “on the ground” (as they say) in Nepal. Kasama/Revsa is excellent for insight into party platforms and internal ideological struggles, but how the platform translates into practical action and daily life is much harder to grasp. Given that, I’m hoping that in future reports, you may be able to shed some light on what’s happening in the countryside re land reform and struggle against the caste system. If the National Army is potentially unreliable and not in control of most of Nepal’s countryside are the popular organizations going ahead with land reform on their own? Also, in the cities, if the CPN(M) is intent on continuing the democratic revolution as a multi-party struggle what can you tell of the role of the mass organizations such as the YCL (other than the example you already gave about blocking the arms shipments)? Finally, if the UCPN(M) continues to understand this stage of the democratic revolution in Nepal as a mutli-party struggle, how are they continuing to exercise their role as a vanguard party?

Keep up the good work Jed.

Rick Atkinson (Eulan’s dad)

By: the dude

the dude — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:31:59 +0000

awesome report.