Archive for the ‘Nepal’ Category
Posted by kasama on June 1, 2012
Ram Bahadur Thapa (aka Badal) has served as the General Secretary of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal Maoist. He is also the leader of a new force, emerging out of the UCPN(M), that is seeking to form a new party and retake a revolutionary road. The following interview with Badal was conducted by Upesh Maharjan in Red Star
1. How will you analyse the latest development in the Nepalese political scenario?
After the dissolution of the Constitution Assembly CA plotted by the external power, there are many illusions about the movement, anarchy and eruption among the people. As the status-quo could not utilize CA for their interest, they wanted to dissolve it. Thus an unconstitutional step had been carried out which invited the confusion and political disorder in Nepal.
2. Very often, your red faction had said that pro- people constitution could not be given through CA. Is it justified?
From beginning of the CA election, there have been many conspiracies plotted by the reactionaries. At that time also, we said that pro-people constitution and peace process couldn’t be made through it. What we said has been proved. They wanted to derail the peace process and constitution drafting so they asked for integration of People’s Army as their pre-condition. After the process of integration they easily derailed the process which means new efforts have to be organized. They have underestimated the verdict of the people.
Posted in >> analysis of news, Nepal, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by kasama on March 25, 2012
“A key lesson for us from the struggle in Nepal is that there is no strategy for all seasons. The people’s war overthrew the feudal monarchy, but now the emphasis is on the mass movement.
“It is also interesting to note that during my discussions with the UCPN comrades the people’s war was never described as being “protracted”, as is the case with Communist Party of the Philippines, with its “protracted people’s war strategy” that could go on even for “one hundred years”.
“As politburo member Comrade Partha Karki explained to me (in meetings in 2010),
“The revolution can and needs to be developed to suit current situations. To paraphrase Lenin ‘to follow the old path is to sacrifice living Marxism to the dead letter’. In Nepal we have a republican state, an outcome of ten years of people’s war which united with the people’s movement.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The following essay appeared in the journal Ang Masa (The Masses), a monthly magazine published in the Philippines by the Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses), following the author’s visit to Nepal. The essay was brought to our attention by Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal.
Kasama shares this essay here because it will be of interest to our readers. Publishing it here is not an endorsement of its analysis by Kasama.
A statement signed a year ago by many supporters of the Kasama project can be examined for more (“Nepal’s Crossroads: Without a people’s army, the people have nothing”). For those interested in Kasama’s ongoing coverage of revolutionary forces in the Philippines you can consult this link (from Kasama main) or this one (from Revolution in South Asia site).
The original title of this piece is “Discussions with the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist): Lessons for the Philippine left” — which underscores the influence (for good or ill) by the different programs and forces in Nepal. And in particular, it raises sharply the frustration many people have felt in the Philippines with the inability of revolutionary forces to break out of a kind of decades-long holding pattern.
By Reihana Mohideen
March 20, 2012 – While Nepal is very different from the Philippines in many key aspects of the country’s economy, society and politics, nevertheless the experience of the Maoist movement in that country holds valuable lessons for the Philippine left – both the Maoists and the non-Maoist revolutionary movements.
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Posted in Nepal, Philippines, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 20 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on January 11, 2012
Armed farmers block road in India
by Mike Ely
A great many of us attracted to revolutionary politics in the U.S. (and similar “developed” countries) often see radical change through the prism of our surrounding society — where feudalism has been largely absorbed into capitalist agriculture, and where only a small-and-declining proportion of the working classes are on the land.
So when revolutionaries in the third world (for example: India, Nepal, Peru, Turkey) talk of the political tasks facing both communists and the people because of major feudal elements — the discussion often seems a bit strange. Their discussion involves problems of genuine national independence, village-level land reform, basic industrial development, basic infrastructure (roads, sewage, electrification…), ending the patriarchy of peasant life… burning questions that aren’t concerns of any revolutionary movement in the U.S.
And meanwhile the face of the Third World is changing — rapidly — with profound implications for the politics, economics and revolutions of today’s world. Islands of imperialist-style production (and even social structures with broad bourgeoisified strata etc.) are emerging in former colonial areas and anchoring regional markets — within South Africa, Bangalore in India, Singapore in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai in China, even in their own way, Israel and Dubai within the still impoverished Middle East. And tremendous transformations are happening in third world agriculture — including capitalist development (dams, factories) and capitalist farming that are changing the face of village life and provoking powerful resistance.
S0, for many reasons, revolutionaries in the U.S. need to understand the conditions, theories and history of Third World revolution. I want to open the discussion here by simply sketching some ongoing controversies and peeling back to show some ways they affect our global political unities and theoretical challenges.
Capitalism or socialism: Two roads in the poorer countries
Jan Makandal gave us one place to start when he wrote in a nearby discussion:
“A theoretical error made by the proponents of the bourgeois revolution stage, they identify two antagonistic modes of productions capitalism, however deformed and dominated it is, and feudalism as two modes of productions existing equally thus the concept of semi. This identification is a mechanical approach of contradictions. In the reality contradictory phenomenon always exist in struggle, even on their relative correspondence, and the objective of these struggle are for dominance and annihilation of the opposite and as materialist we do need to understand all the prevailing tendencies to understand the direction and the path this annihilation is going and mostly qualitatively. For example, most of those feudal landlords are heavily indebted to capitalist. For me even in most of those social formation feudalism is strong but it is stagnant as well and capitalism is deformed, dominated but emerging.
“So inside these social formation I would not deduct that they are semi feudal and semi capitalism but recognize the existence of these two modes of productions and as well recognize capitalism as dominant and making it the dominant elements to deal with into those social formations. Concluding no to bourgeois revolutions, an opportunist and revisionist political line but yes to a revolution under the leaderships of the proletariat.”
Jan is (i believe) critiquing a concept Mao developed– “semifeudal semicolonial” — which Mao used to describe conditions in China in the 1920s and 1930s, and which have since been applied(by Maoists) to other countries in the Third World. Mao’s initial analysis was an important breakthrough — in ways that will become clear. And it is still a controversial one today — for reasons that Jan makes clear.
I welcome that Jan is broaching these questions… and i want to address some points he raises.
So lets start here: So what does this mean, “semifeudal, semicolonial,” and what kind of a strategic revolutionary road has that been connected with over the last century? And how does it relate to the changing forms of global oppression today?
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Afghanistan, China, CPI(Maoist), India, Maoism, Marxist theory, methodology, Mike Ely, Nepal, peoples war, Socialism, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 21 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on November 18, 2011
One of the aims of the Nepalese armed Maoist guerrilla war (1996-2006), was to seize land for those who farm it — i.e. to occupy the land of the rich with guns, divide it up, abolish the structure of rich and poor, and create the ways for farmers to solve problems for themselves, their families and their new organized collectivities.
To accomplish this, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) helped peasants confiscate lands from feudal lords or rich landowners.
This was especially important in the heavily-populated and fertile Terai region in southern Nepal, where peasant farmers have often labor on land owned by others.
Now, under the sinister terms of the a counter-revolutionary Seven-Point Agreement, peasants have been ordered to return much of this land. Peasants who are part of All Nepal Peasants Federation-Revolutionary are refusing to do so.
This development is especially interesting, as some leaders of the ANPF(Revolutionary) are aligned with Prachanda, who signed the seven-point agreement. What this means, if anything, is not clear.
This article is from Red Star, the revolutionary English-language newspaper from Nepal, and it was originally posted on our sister site Revolution in South Asia.
Peasant Against Returning Land
by Red Star
Kathmandu, 16 November:
All Nepal Peasants Federation-Revolutionary (ANPF (Revolutionary) has declared not to return the land; which was confiscated in the period of People’s War. It was declared in a press meet held in capital city Kathmandu yesterday. ANPF-Revolutionary is standing against the returning of the land where the poor and homeless people are farming for their livelihood making their small huts.
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Posted in Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 1 Comment »
Posted by kasama on November 4, 2011
“The rightist deviation; which dissolved the Peoples Liberation Army that has sacrificed itself for the peace and transformation, will be demised soon. Hundred thousands of new PLA soldiers will take birth from the ashes of the dissolved PLA. The land lords, puppets, imperialists and the expansionists; who are exchanging their happiness, will have no more time to feel their happiness because we are with people and their happiness.”
A momentous clash has broken out in Nepal.
The prime minister of Nepal and the historic chairman of the Maoist party (two men once prominent in the revolution ) have declared the dissolution of the Peoples Liberation Army.
In quick opposition, organized revolutionary forces within their own party and leadership declared a determination to preserve the people’s armed forces — by rebuilding the Peoples Liberation Army if necessary.
On November 2, the dissolution of the PLA was announced in the form of a new Seven Point Agreement which was reached between Bhattarai, Prachanda and the other parties that make up Nepal’s Constituent Assembly.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Communist Party, Nepal, peoples war, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 1 Comment »
Posted by kasama on November 2, 2011
There will be a public panel discussion this weekend in New Orleans:
From #Occupy to Revolution:
How Could Our World Actually Change
Speakers: Eric Ribellarsi, Jim Weill, Mike Ely
Saturday, November 5, 11 am – 2 pm
Avery Alexander Plaza (formerly Duncan Plaza) in front of City Hall.
Sponsored by the Voice Collective
Firsthand report backs about the revolutionary experiences in Nepal, Greece, and within the Occupy Together movement in the US. Discussion the possibilities for a new revolutionary movement in the U.S.
Jim Weill and Eric Ribellarsi have recently returned from deep investigations into the “movement of the squares” in Greece—and after learning from the ideas of active revolutionaries within that movement. They also bring insights from their explorations of the Maoist revolutionary movement of Nepal, which has mass support in the millions and is sharply confronting the unsolved problems of overthrowing the old order and making much needed radical changes.
Mike Ely is a veteran revolutionary with a history that starts from his work with the early Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, the intense strike wave among coal miners in the 1970s, and covers decades of experience attempting to build revolutionary organization.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Eric Ribellarsi, Greece, Jim Weill, Kasama, Mike Ely, Nepal, Occupy Wall Street | 8 Comments »
Posted by kasama on October 25, 2011
We are receiving reports that the revolutionary left forces within Nepal’s Maoist party may be moving to consolidate themselves and separate from previous Maoist leaders who have openly abandoned preparations for revolution.
This would obviously be an important development for the (the UCPN[Maoist]) — the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). And it would also be a major (even historic) event for South Asia’s hopes, and important on a world scale.
It is something that every revolutionary person should pay attention to, learn from, and help others understand. It is worth asking “What would it mean if the people of a country truly succeeded in creating a radical new socialist society? What would it mean for the world?”
And it is worth watching closely to understand: “What line and approach are the revolutionaries of Nepal regrouping around? What are their plans, strategies and perspectives?”
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 4 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 25, 2011
A powerful current in Nepal has wanted a new society and a new form of state power. photo: Jed Brandt
by Mike Ely
CWM raises some important questions when he asks:
“Do you know if there are attempts to strengthen democratic mechanisms within the UCPN (so that the leadership can’t dismiss the wishes of the base in the future)? Also, if a split were to occur, is there reason to suppose that the new formation would be more democratic than the UCPN is now?”
“In comment 25, Eric mentioned mechanisms through which UCPN members can hypothetically influence party decisions, but these mechanisms seemed to require meetings in urban centers, which would presumably be quite inaccessible for people in remote areas. Does this mean that people in remote rural regions (people like Uday) just passively take orders or are there mechanisms through which they can influence the party? Also, Eric claims that Prachanda transgressed the majority position in the UCPN when he began disarming the PLA, which makes me wonder what mechanisms allowed him to disregard the will of the majority and if his apparent lack of accountability played out in the remote areas in the same way as it did in the urban centers.”
I suspect (from our many discussions) that CWM’s assumption is that the Nepal’s Maoist party and revolutionary movement has some inherently anti-democratic structure, and that this (the very existence of a vanguard party) is somehow inherently the problem that needs to be excavated and dealt with. And (typically of such assumptions) it coexists with very little investigation into the actual power relations and decision-making within this living movement.
The situation is quite the opposite: Never in the history of Nepal has there been a force so dedicated to empowering to the people as this Maoist party. The history of Nepal has literally been divided into a “before” and “after” by the emergence of this movement. In a society where power was previously viewed as divine and the people were viewed as voiceless subjects to a king and his regents — the emergence of an armed force rooted among the poorest and most despised, and dedicated to their interests, is a democratic shift of incalculable magnitude.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, mass line, Mike Ely, Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 30 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 23, 2011
Troy Davis
The following first appeared on Winter Has Its End, revolutionary journalism blog.
The statement is from a young Nepali Maoist from the remote rural Himalayan town of Thewang in Rolpa, the village where the Nepali people’s war began.
Uday advocates for the continuation of the Nepalese revolution, and wrote a statement on the lynching of Troy Davis in the United States.
* * * * * * * *
by Uday Magar
We are shocked by this brutal act of America. We can prove that it is America who is guilty of murdering our friend, TROY DAVIS.
The question is: Who is going to punish the murderer?
The answer is: US.
A part of America is occupied by machines that reject love and justice. Even after it was proven that TROY DAVIS is an innocent man, he was inhumanly murdered. It’s crystal clear that America cruelly kills every hope that is likely to oppose it. It mercilessly murders the minds that show signs of opposition to its plans.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, death penalty, Nepal | 35 Comments »
Posted by kasama on September 21, 2011
foto: Thomas van Beersum
Thanks to J.G. and Odio de Clase for sharing this translation of Liam Wright’s piece on a performance in Nepal that is calling for new revolutionary preparations.
Liam Wright’s original piece first appeared, in English, on Winter Has Its End.
ARTE POPULAR AL SERVICIO DE LA REVOLUCIÓN EN NEPAL: “TRAER LA TORMENTA DE LA REVOLUCIÓN”
Por Liam Wright
1 de septiembre de 2011
Cantó:
“No nos podemos rendir.
No podemos convertirnos en traidores;
no podemos matar nuestros propios sueños.
No podemos entregar nuestras armas al enemigo.
No podemos traicionar a la revolución.”
Levanté los ojos mientras me enjugaba una gota de sudor del rostro. El lugar estaba lleno hasta los topes. Alrededor de mil personas abarrotaban un teatro con capacidad para novecientas. El pasillo central estaba repleto de gente encaramada en asientos improvisados hasta la última fila. Algunas personas se quedaron fuera, asomándose por la puerta de entrada. En la parte de arriba, el entresuelo estaba lleno a rebosar. Y… hacía calor.
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Posted in Kasama translations, Liam Wright, Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on September 15, 2011
Dil Sahni, is a renowned writer, professor, and Maoist sympathizer in Nepal. He works as the coordinator of the M.A. English Department at Butwal Multiple Campus, Nepal.
This poem was published most recently by Winter Has Its End, which is offering a series of poems by revolutionaries in Nepal.
Comrade
by Dil Sahni
Comrade!
When you were in the street
You spoke revolution
Comrade!
When you were in the slums
You spoke liberation
Comrade!
When you were with the people
Like the fish in the water
You spoke Marxism
You spoke Leninism
You spoke Maoism
You spoke so much
Socialism and Communism
And what not
But now Comrade!
When you are in the chair
You do not hear
What the street would say to you
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Posted in Nepal, poem, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | 7 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 9, 2011
photo: Thomas van Beersum
Thanks to Christos Mais and Antigeitonies for sharing this translation of Liam Wright’s piece on an important performance in Nepal calling for new revolutionary preparations. Liam Wright’s original piece first appeared, in English, on Winter Has Its End.
Φέρτε την καταιγίδα! Μια συγκινητική παράσταση στο Νεπάλ **
του Liam Wright
Σήκωσα τα μάτια μου καθώς σκούπιζα μια σταγόνα ιδρώτα από το πρόσωπό μου. Το μέρος ήταν γεμάτο. Περίπου χίλιοι άνθρωποι στριμωγμένοι σε ένα θέατρο που χωρούσε εννιακόσια άτομα. Ο κεντρικός διάδρομος ήταν γεμάτος με ανθρώπους σκαρφαλωμένους σε αυτοσχέδια καθίσματα μέχρι την τελευταία σειρά. Μερικοί στέκονταν κοιτώντας από την είσοδο. Ο εξώστης ήταν επίσης γεμάτος. Και … έκανε ζέστη.
Είχαμε ταξιδέψει όλη τη νύχτα από τα βουνά, με το λεωφορείο, έντεκα ώρες δρόμο για να φτάσουμε στο Butwal, μια μικρή πόλη στην πνιγηρή πεδινή περιοχή Terai του Νεπάλ.
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Posted in Kasama translations, Liam Wright, Nepal, winter has its end blog | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on September 8, 2011
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| Posters of Jamakattel, photo credit: Liam Wright |
This first appeared on Winter Has Its End.
by Liam Wright
Update: On Sunday, August 27, we reported on an attack against the head of the now-split, Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Trade Union Federation, Salkiram Jamakattel and the militant response from his constituents.
That night we saw 150 restaurant workers respond to the attack by marching militantly through the streets of the famous tourist district of Kathmandu, Nepal, the Thamel district with chants of “Lal Salam! Lal Salam!” or “Red Salute! Red Salute!”
The next day thousands were in the streets demanding the immediate arrest of his attacker, who had bashed his head with a pipe with obvious intent to kill.
Two days ago Maoists began decorating Kathmandu with posters, continuing to demand the arrest of the assailant who attacked Jamakattel. The posters are hard to miss as you walk around Kathmandu. Almost every rickshaw you see has one pasted on its backside, and they sprinkle the walls of almost every district of the city.
The red, monochromatic posters feature an image of the popular union leader bruised and bandaged in a hospital bed but sitting up, recovering. They read,
“Arrest the person who attempted to murder the popular labor leader and Constituent Assembly member, Comrade Salikram Jamakattel without delay!”
Posted in >> analysis of news, Liam Wright, Nepal, trade unions, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog, working class | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on September 7, 2011
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| Torch rally against surrender, photo credit: Eric Ribellarsi |
This is a translation of the interview Nepal’s Biplab: “Even if we can’t go together, nothing will stop the coming revolution.” Biplab (Netra Bikram Chanda) is a leading member of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) .
This French version appeared on Servir le Peuple.
Biplab :
« Même si nous ne pouvons pas continuer tous ensemble, rien n’arrêtera la prochaine révolution »
Introduction par Servire le Peuple
Une traduction spécialement dédicacée aux ultragauchistes qui considèrent qu’il n’y a pas de ligne rouge au Népal… et que ceux qui “fantasmeraient” là-dessus, c’est à dire ceux qui pratiquent l’internationalisme prolétarien, contrairement à eux, ne feraient que “s’approprier le prestige” ( !) du maoïsme au Népal et maintenant en Inde (et seraient au passage des “cosmopolites” !!!). Car il faut bien comprendre ce qu’il y a derrière cette position : les opportunistes de droite népalais ayant l’appui de l’expansionnisme indien, voire du projet impérialiste chinois, et de toute la Réaction mondiale qui salue leur “engagement dans le processus de paix” ; la ligne rouge, sans la solidarité internationaliste, MOURRA et la révolution népalaise avec elle. En niant qu’elle existe, et donc en ne la soutenant (par définition) pas, les ultragauchistes se font encore une fois les zélés serviteurs du système impérialiste mondial, en accélérant la liquidation de la première révolution issue d’une Guerre populaire victorieuse depuis 1975. Ces manœuvres au service de la Réaction mondiale doivent être dénoncées par tous les vrais révolutionnaires internationalistes, impitoyablement, et tou-te-s ceux et celles qui ont étudié l’histoire du mouvement communiste international, savent ce qu’elles mériteront le moment venu.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Kasama translations, Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | 1 Comment »
Posted by kasama on September 7, 2011
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| photo: Jim Weill |
This first appeared on Winter Has Its End.
by Jim Weill
In Nepali buses there are seats, and then there are seats. Reclining seats with cushioned headrests – and just about anywhere else a body will fit: in the aisles, on armrests, on benches in the driver’s area, in the doorway, even on top of the bus. One reason for this is, of course, money. Bus operators want to carry as many passengers as possible to acquire as many fares as possible. But Nepalis are also much less squeamish about bodily proximity than European-derived peoples. Complete strangers will lay their heads on each others’ shoulders and it is no offense to lean back against the legs of someone sitting above you.
Furthermore, it seemed that allocation of the proper seats was arbitrary. One could get a ticket for a proper seat, or one could claim a seat early enough, and it was likely the arrangement wouldn’t be contested. So these long bus rides became something egalitarian and communal, with people enduring mild discomfort together, both physically and socially. In a new society, I thought to myself, will everyone have their own cushioned seat, or will everyone share in these minute, everyday struggles together?
Our large coach bus bumped and jostled along the mountain roads, veered around switchbacks and, to my occasional horror, seemed to flirt with the steep edges of the river valley. But eventually, I gave myself over to a different sort of comfort. The clouds hugged the tops of the green hills, terraced with rice paddies. The popular Hindi and Nepali music poured from the speakers, thick with percussion and broad, powerful voices.
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Posted in Jim Weill, Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | 3 Comments »
Posted by kasama on September 4, 2011
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| Torch rally against surrender, photo credit: Eric Ribellarsi |
The following interview with Biplab (Netra Bikram Chanda), a leading member of the Maoist party in Nepal, was conducted the week before Baburam Bhattarai’s election. At that momentarily the left and right wings of the Maoists were (briefly) working together to weaken the current party chairman Prachanda (obviously for different reasons). That situation ended when Bhattarai moved to disarm and dissolve the People’s Liberation Army.
Things have changed and events have moved quickly in the days since this interview was given. However it still gives a sense of the struggle over the future of Nepal’s revolution within the Maoist party.
It first appeared on Winter Has Its End (WHIE).
WHIE: Very sharp differences have emerged in your party over army integration. Could you explain those to us?
BIPLAB: We have a two-line struggle going on in our party over the integration of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This struggle has mainly been targeted at Baburam Bhattarai, but at the moment it has become focused on Prachanda. Prachanda is claiming that we can go forward by accepting the integration proposals of the reactionary forces in Nepal.
They are ready to dissolve, not integrate, the People’s Liberation Army which fought for 12 years, into the Nepal Army.
It is amazing that the Nepal Army has put forward proposal about integration. Their proposal gives them leadership and disintegrates the People’s Liberation Army under it. The PLA is treated not as soldiers of Nepal. It suggests that the PLA step aside into local bureaus, and become unarmed forest guards. Prachanda is accepting their proposal.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Maoism, Nepal, Prachanda, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | 4 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 2, 2011
One of many blockades throughout the country. photo credit: Eric Ribellarsi
UPDATE FROM NEPAL:
We have just learned that the Prachanda and Bhattarai factions of the Maoist party in Nepal have announced that they will not step back from their moves to disarm the Peoples Liberation Army. Not only will they order then hanging over of keys to weapons storage containers, but they will also begin moving the containers themselves out of three of the cantonments. (Cantonment is the name for the treaty-supervised bases where the PLA forces are concentrated.)
Kiran, Dev Gurung, and Biplab boycotted the meeting.
* * * * * * * * **
Eric is writing his eyewitness reports from Kathmandu itself, the capital of Nepal. He and co-workers are scrambling to understand and describe events that are breaking around them. Their reports often appear first on their team’s blog Winter Has Its End.
By Eric Ribellarsi
Today, the Kiran faction of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has launched a major protest program against the disarming of the People’s Liberation Army being led by Nepal’s new Prime Minister, Baburam Bhattarai. The Maoist rebels are demanding the immediate reversal of the decision to disarm People’s Liberation Army, a process which has already begun.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Che Guevara, Eric Ribellarsi, Nepal, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | 3 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 1, 2011
Kiran, Vice chairman of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist):
“….the meeting of Army Integration Special Committee… made a surprising and suicidal decision of handing over the weapons containers and their keys 7:00PM today.
“This decision will lead to disarming and dissolving of People’s Liberation Army. We condemn this decision and humbly request the discarding of this decision of surrender immediately.”
* * * * * * * * * *
The following is a statement by Mohan Baidhya (nom de guerre: Kiran).
Kiran’s faction of the Nepal’s Maoist party is calling for a mass gathering in Kathmandu’s Ratna Park. Eric Ribellarsi also reports that were were plans for blockading the roads leading into Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. It is, of course, unclear what will actually happen. We will share reports on developments.
This statement first appeared on Winter Has Its End. Thanks to Bikkil Sthapit for the English translation.
Kathmandu: September 1, 2011
Our party has always remained firm about the commitments to drafting a new constitution and army integration in regards to the Comprehensive Peace Accord. We’ve already envisioned that both tasks must be completed simultaneously. Without any doubt, army integration is one of the vital parts of peace process.
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Posted in Maoism, Nepal, UCP Nepal (Maoist) | 2 Comments »
Posted by kasama on September 1, 2011
Defiant. photo: Eric Ribellarsi
She sang:
“We cannot surrender.
We cannot become traitors.
We cannot kill our own dreams.
We cannot give our arms to the enemy.
We cannot betray the revolution.”
This first appeared on the Winter Has Its End site for revolutionary journalism.
by Liam Wright
I lifted my eyes as I wiped a streak of sweat from my face. The place was packed. About a thousand people crammed into a theater meant to hold nine hundred. The center aisle was filled with people perched on impromptu seats all the way to the back row. Some stood peering through the entryway. Up top, the balcony was filled to the brim as well. And… it was hot.
We had traveled overnight out of the mountains, on an eleven hour bus ride to get to Butwal, a small city in the sweltering lowland Terai region of Nepal. This city is an historic spot. It is the place where the renowned Nepalese warriors, known as Gorkhas, defeated the British East India Company in 1816, maintaining Nepalese independence.
It seems only appropriate that we would come here, a place where Nepal had fought so decisively for sovereignty long ago, to see a performance organized by a section of the Maoist’s who want to fight to continue their revolution now. The performance, Samana or Resistance, we were told was, “both a call to the people and a warning to our leaders.”
The whole way over I was excited. I’d been mulling over this for a bit. How would the Nepalese revolutionaries go forward? How would they settle the debate over whether to dissolve their People’s Liberation Army or not? Would they move to break through? To go for power? Or would those among the Maoists party’s leadership who want to consolidate a capitalist democracy win the day?
This program promised to give us a hint of how the revolutionaries among the Maoists planned to tell the people: “We’re going to move. Be ready.” We were told that the program is going on tour through forty-five places in all, each with a couple showings. If each is overflowing like this, they were going to reach a lot of people.
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Posted in art, comedy, communism, dance, Liam Wright, Maoism, music, Nepal, Prachanda, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist), winter has its end blog | 1 Comment »
Posted by kasama on August 30, 2011
Interview with Vice-commander in the Nepal Peoples Liberation Army. His nom de guerre is Tarzan.
“If we were to integrate the Peoples Liberation Army and Nepal Army under the terms and conditions of the bourgeois army, then we believe the revolution will not be completed.”
This video interview first appeared on the blog of the Winter Has Its End team for revolutionary journalism.
The reporters wrote:
“While on our journey to Thawang, the village where Nepal’s people’s war began, we had the great opportunity to visit with Binprasad, (party name: Tarzan), a People’s Liberation Army member out on break from the cantonments (sites where the revolutionary army has been confined during the period of Nepal’s ceasefire).
“Tarzan spoke with us about his concerns about the future of the People’s Liberation Army, and the future of the revolution itself.”
Watch the video interview and read its transcript here >>
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