This article was published in Radical Notes, November 19, 2009.

War Against the Maoists: But Who Are They and What Do They Want

Author’s Note: This is meant to be a simple and brief exposition of the goals and strategies of the Maoist movement in India for people who may not have much awareness about it and are confused by the propaganda in the mainstream media. This does not go into the arcane debates about mode of production in India, the debates among communist revolutionaries over strategy and tactics etc. This aims at people who, for example, are perplexed why the Maoists, instead of trying to ensure safe drinking water like an NGO, rather, often resort to violent activities against the Government.

Rita Khanna

The Indian government is launching a full-scale war against the Maoist rebels and the people led by them in different parts of the country. The initial battles, without any formal announcement, have already started. For this purpose, they intend to deploy about 75,000 security personnel in parts of Central and Eastern India, including Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. The government will organize its regular air-force in addition to paramilitary and specially trained COBRA forces. The air-force has begun to extend its logistic support.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram have declared the Maoist rebels to be ‘the biggest internal security threat’ to India and a hindrance to ‘development’. The mainstream media seem to have taken them at their face value. Their publications and television programmes seem to be building a war-hysteria against the Maoist rebels regardless of the fact that this attack by the government will be directed against some of the most deprived of the Indian people. Indeed this is turning into a war of the state against its own people!

While paying lip service at times to the notion that the current people’s insurgency led by the Maoist rebels has its root in decades of vicious exploitation of the poor, especially the dalits and tribals, the blare of government propaganda tries to convince us that the Maoist rebels are dangerous, blood-thirsty terrorists determined to establish their areas of influence. The Government is preaching that the Maoists can go to any extent to maintain their influence in these areas – by either preventing the government from undertaking development activities or using the power of their guns, killing disobedient individuals. Their ideology is to terrorise the common people, wrest power from the democratically elected governments and destroy the entire fabric of the society.

The government and the media want us to believe that the only people, apart from a few romantic misguided intellectuals, who willingly support Maoists are the poor, ignorant, uneducated, uninformed tribal people. They seem to claim that no sensible, intelligent person living in a society like ours would support them voluntarily. But is this a true picture?

Could it be that the Maoist rebels are supporting and organizing the poor, exploited people to fight oppression, to establish a more egalitarian society where the wealth of our growing economy will be spread among all, not merely among a very small minority? Could it be that in the name of suppressing the Maoists, the state is going all out to break the backbone of these poor peoples’ fight? Could it be that the government is planning to wage a war, in our name, against our own sisters and brothers to help line the pockets of the rich?

In this hour of crisis, we must ask those questions that the government seeks to suppress.

What do we really know about the Maoist rebels, their ideology, their plans and programs? Why does the government need to go to war against its own people and inside its own territory? Are the Maoists really blocking development? Who are these Maoists anyway and what do they want?

Let us take one question at a time.

Who are these Maoists?

The Maoists are revolutionaries mainly consisting of the extremely poor people including a large number of dalits and tribals. They come mainly from the toiling masses of India and they are trying to organize the vast population of such masses of this country. They seek to arm and train them so that these masses can resist the onslaught of the rich. In this effort they go beyond the idea that mass movements should focus on some specific issues like increase of wages, better health care, more honesty of public servants and so forth.

The view of the Maoist rebels is that the poor and exploited people must first and foremost establish their own democratic political power and their own state power in various places. This is because without controlling state power, the poor and the exploited can at most hope for only limited improvements in their living conditions, i.e., so long as it does not inconvenience the rich who usually control the state power. So, the Maoists mobilize the poor to fight against the existing state, even armed fight if possible, as they consider the existing state to be a set of agents acting for the big multinational corporations, rich landlords and the wealthy in general.

The fight is an extremely challenging and unequal one as the rich are aided by the government bureaucrats, the police and even the military. Also, contrary to what the Government and the mainstream media are propagating, the Maoist rebels are actually completely opposed to individual killings, they openly denigrate such stray terrorism-like acts. What they have been attempting to build up is a mass movement, even armed, to take on the violence of the ruling classes and its representative state machinery.

The Maoist movement was born in India in the late 1960s, after a radical section of political workers broke away mainly from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) because they felt the CPIM and other such parties like CPI, RSP, etc. had discredited themselves with their opportunist politics of placating and compromising with the rich. The movement has a long history of development. The present party, CPI (Maoist), came into being in 2004 by the merger of a number of fraternal organizations.

Is development in India arrested because the Maoist rebels are blocking it?

What is the state of the people of India at present? With its current high rate of growth, this is also a country of abject poverty and extreme inequality. Home to 24 billionaires (second largest in Asia according to Forbes), India can also boast of 230 million people who go to bed on a half empty stomach (World Hunger Report).

A country whose economy grows at 9% cannot feed its own population – at least 50% of the people live below the official poverty line and 47% of children below the age of three are underweight (World Bank report, Undernourished children: A call for reform and action). In this so called ‘hub of knowledge economy’, only 11% of the total population can afford higher education and 50% of the students drop out before class eight to start living as casual labourers (Education Statistics, Ministry of Human Resource Development). This is true of most of India not just the areas where Maoist influence and control is high. Then how can we say that development in India is being blocked by Maoists?

Maoists do not oppose `development’ at all, they only oppose the `pro-rich development’ at the expense of destitution or often total destruction of the poor. For example, in Dandakaranya region of Chhattisgarh they oppose setting up of helipads but there, the poor themselves, led by the Maoist rebels, have built irrigation tanks and wells for help in agriculture something the Indian government did not bother to do. The Indian government routinely blames the Maoist rebels that they blow up schools! But what the Government tries to suppress is that these blown-up school buildings were actually being used or requisitioned to become camps for security personnel!

And what changes do they want? Why do they want these changes?

(1) Overhauling the entire structure of oppression instead of piecemeal reforms

In addition to all the woes described above, India is also a country, where thousands of Muslims can be butchered in broad daylight by fascist Hindu forces (the most widespread and gruesome such pogrom in recent times happened in Gujarat in 2002), while the ministers and police look the other way. And these features are not stray results of the misdeeds of a few villains. The existing socio-political system in India has a built-in mechanism which ensures that the common masses would be oppressed by a rich and powerful few. Widespread systemic violence is required and is routinely applied by the Indian state so that common people remain disciplined and do not revolt in the face of oppression.

(2) Land to the tillers and destruction of the landlord class

About 60% of the Indian population is still dependent on agriculture. However the primary input, land, is predominantly concentrated in the hands of a few landlords and big farmers. Close to 60 percent of rural households are effectively landless [NSS report]. The elite in the villages, by their collusion with the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats have blocked any meaningful land reforms. In the last four decades the proportion of households with little or no land (landless and marginal farmer households) has increased steadily from 66% to 80%. On the other hand the top ten percent rural households own more land now than in 1951 (Source: NSS report).The Maoist revolutionaries want to change this to ensure equitable distribution of land. They do not deter from collective armed fight of the landless and poor peasants and the poor rural labourers against the existing state power for achieving this goal.

(3) Freedom from moneylenders and traders

Indebtedness in rural India has been increasing by leaps and bounds especially in the recent decades. Public rural banks are closing down due to relaxation of government regulation. Therefore, instead of securing credits from public institutional sources, rural folk are now being forced to approach the village money lenders (who are often big landlords or rich farmers as well) on a larger and larger scale. Unscrupulous traders are adding to the misery of the poor peasants. They sell spurious inputs to small and marginal peasants at exorbitant prices. They also make huge profits by buying their harvest at throwaway prices and selling them in urban areas at a premium.

Not-so-well-off peasants, in this no-win situation, of course end up needing substantial credit. Private moneylenders and various for-profit financial companies take advantage of this situation by extracting enormous sums from peasants. Interest rate could be as high as 5% per month. The BBC News reported that more than 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997 under the pressure of such indebtedness. The Maoist rebels want to change this.

(4) End of caste system and eradication of untouchability

It is well known that the caste system is still thriving in India. Economically it keeps the overwhelming majority of the people in dire poverty and politically it suppresses their fundamental democratic rights. Often the lower castes are robbed of their human dignity. They are even denied access to public facilities like some sources of drinking water, schools etc. An expert group of the planning commission reports that in 70% villages lower caste people cannot enter places of worship and in more than 50% villages they don’t have access to common water sources (Expert committee report to the Planning Commission).

According to an NCDHR report, on average, 27 atrocities (including murder, abduction and rape) against dalits take place every day. The well-off landed sections in the villages still come mainly from the upper castes. They use brahminical ideology to try to keep all other sections of the population under domination. The same is true for usurers, merchants, hoarders, quarry owners, contractors–all mainly come from the upper castes. In short, the upper castes are still very much in command in all aspects of rural life. Often with their own private army of goondas they run a parallel raj. The Maoists want to break this stranglehold of the upper castes and ensure equal rights for dalits and adivasis.

(5) Freedom from exploitation by foreign multinationals and its local partners

Since 1991, foreign capital in alliance with big capitalists like Reliance, Tata and state bureaucrats, has penetrated vast sectors of the Indian economy. Every sphere of our life, starting from road construction, electricity generation, communication networks to food retail, health and education are under direct control of this coterie. In the name of ‘development’ thousands of acres of land are being transferred to big business and multinationals. For example, in Bastar, Chattisgarh, in the name of Bodh Ghat dam, tens of thousands of Adivasis are being forcibly evicted from their “jal-jangal-zameen” (water-forest-land). In Niyamgiri, Orissa the land which is the abode of several Dongria tribes has been handed over to the multinational Vedanta group which will completely destroy the livelihood of these tribes affecting more than 20,000 people. The state government and the mainstream opposition parties of the state are actively supporting such activities. The Maoists, over the years, have been resisting such plunder.

(6) Ensuring people’s democratic rights

It is well known that elections are often a sham in India. The parliament, as we have seen several times, is a bazaar where the rich and the super-rich can buy the MPs. According to ADR (Association of Democratic Reform), the average asset of an MP has gone up to 5.12 crore in 2009 from Rs 1.8 crore in 2004. In our democracy the erstwhile rajas and maharajas, like Scindias, are still proliferating and controlling the local economy and polity at many places.

And we also know the state of judicial system in our country. Salman Khans and Sanjeev Nandas can kill by running cars over common people and still they can escape the law for very long, perhaps forever. B.N. Kirpal, the judge, who arbitrarily ordered that Indian rivers be interlinked, ignoring the resulting ecological and human calamity, joined the environmental board of Coca-Cola after he retired. The Maoists want to establish people’s court where poor people can get true justice. In fact, such courts run in many places where the Maoist movement is strong.

(7) Self-determination for the nationalities

The Indian government ruthlessly suppresses national aspirations of a number of people. These people and their land became part of India by accident – because the British raj annexed their homeland or a despotic king wanted their land to be a part of India. Lakhs of Indian troops have been deployed in Kashmir and north-eastern states to curb such struggles of the people in these states for their national self-determination. Since 1958, AFSPA has been imposed in north-eastern states, which allows armed forces to conduct search and seizure without warrant, to arrest without warrant, to destroy any house without any verification and to shoot to kill with full impunity. In Kashmir, there is 1 military personnel for every 15 civilian. Cold blooded murders, like those of Thangjam Manorama Devi, Chungkham Sanjit, Neelofar and Asiya Jan, are carried out frequently in the name of ‘countering terrorism’. The Maoist rebels seek to establish freedom of self determination for all nationalities.

So, to sum up, the new society the Maoists want to establish will have the following components:

–Land to the poor and landless. Later on cooperative farming is to be established on voluntary basis.

–Forest to the tribal people.

–End of rule of the rich and the upper caste in villages and uprooting of caste system. Uproot all discriminations based on gender and religion.

–Seizure of the ill gotten wealth and assets of multinational corporations and their local Indian partners.

–Self determination for the nationalities, political autonomy for the tribes.

–Establish a state by the poor, for the poor where the present day exploiters would be expropriated.

–Participation of people in day to day administrative work and decision making. Democracy at the true grassroot level with people having the power to recall its democratic representatives.

In summary: ensuring that all types of freedom, rights and democracy for all sections of toiling masses.

What have the Maoists-led people’s struggles achieved so far?

Information in this section is taken, purposely, from the expert group report to the planning commission, which is available on the web.

Contrary to what the media try to portray, the government’s own report says that the movement led by the Maoist rebels cannot be seen as simply blowing up of police stations and killing individual people. It encompasses mass organization. Mass participation in militant protest has always been a characteristic of such mobilisation.

Although the Maoists by their own admission are engaged in a long term people’s struggle against the oppression by the present India state, their movement has already achieved some short term successes in improving the condition of the poor people.

Maoist movement in India was built around the demand of ‘land to the tillers’. Numerous struggles, led by the Maoists, have been fought all over the country especially in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, to free land from the big landholding families. In many such cases landlords have been driven away from the villages and their land has been put in the possession of the landless poor. But the police and paramilitary do not allow the poor to cultivate such lands. In Bihar, landless Musahars, the lowest among the Dalits have struggled and have taken possession of fallow Government land. This has had the support of Maoists.

Under the leadership of the Maoists the adivasis have reclaimed forest land on an extensive scale in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Orissa and Jharkhand. The adivasis displaced by irrigation projects in Orissa had to migrate to the forests of Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh in large numbers. The forest department officials harassed and evicted them on a regular basis. The movement led by the Maoists put an end to this.

In rural India the Minimum Wages Act remains an act on paper only. In the forest areas of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand, non-payment of the legal wages was a major source of exploitation of adivasi labourer. Maoists-led struggles have put an effective end to it. These struggles have secured increases in the rate of payment for picking tendu leaves (used for rolling beedies), washing clothes, making pots, tending cattle, repairing implements etc. The exploitation previously had been so severe that as a result of the sustained movement led by Maoists the pay rates of tendu leaves collection have over the years increased by fifty times.

The movement has given confidence to the oppressed to assert their rights and demand respect and dignity from the dominant castes and classes. The everyday humiliation and sexual exploitation of labouring women of dalit and tribal communities by upper caste men has been successfully fought. Forced labour, begari, by which the toiling castes had to provide obligatory service for free to the upper castes was also put an end to in many parts of the country.

In rural India, disputes are commonly taken to the rich and powerful of the village (who are generally the landlords) and caste panchayats, where the dispensation of justice is in favour of the rich and powerful. The Maoist movement has provided a mechanism, usually described as the ‘People’s Court’ whereby these disputes are resolved in the interests of the wronged party.

Why then, does the government need to go to war against its own people led by these rebels instead of hailing them as true patriots?

There is a simple answer. Chattisgarh, Orissa are rich in mineral wealth that can be sold to the highest multinational bidder. The only obstacle standing between the corrupt politicians and ALL THIS MONEY are the poor, disenfranchised tribal people (and the Maoists leading them). So, this war. This is not something new in India or for that matter in other parts of the world. Mobutu’s corrupt regime selling off the Belgian Congo piece by piece to the US, Belgium and other countries comes to mind. In the sixty years of independence from direct colonial rule, the Indian state has been doing the same. It has systematically impoverished the overwhelming majority to serve the interest of a powerful few and their foreign friends.

The impending war to evict the tribal people from their villages, in the pretext of eliminating the Maoists, will be fought at the behest of big corporations, who want to control and plunder our resources such as mineral, water and forest. It is high time that we recognize this pattern of waging war which will be fought by the poor on both sides, but will benefit only the big capitalists and their cheerleaders in the government.

Note: For an interested reader, the webpage: bannedthought.net contains an enormous wealth of information about the Maoist rebels, including their own documents.

Hike in Nepali students in US universities

eKantipur, November 17, 2009

Kathmandu- The number of Nepali students enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education has increased significantly, according to Open Doors 2009. The annual report on international academic mobility published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State, the number increased from 8,936 to 11,581 in 2008/09– a 29.6 per cent increase over the 2007/08 academic year.

Nepal ranks 11th among the leading countries of origin of international students, as it did the last year.  In the academic year 2006/2007, Nepal ranked 13th among the countries of origin of international students. India tops the list with 15.4% followed by China with 14.7%.

America’s nearly 3,000 accredited schools of higher education continue to attract new students in what is becoming a highly competitive international ‘market’ around the world, According to U.S. Embassy Kathmandu’s Counselor for Public Affairs Terry J. White.

The U.S. remains the preferred destination for students from Nepal who want to study abroad because of the quality and prestige associated with an American degree.

“Resist the Indian government’s war on the people! Stand by the struggling masses fighting for their land, life and livelihood!”

Following is a statement by the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India  (rdfindia@gmail.com)  from the end of October 2009.

The former U.S. President George W. Bush declared a “War on Terror” on the pretext of 9/11, and attacked Iraq and then Afghanistan so that U.S. imperialism could capture oil, gas and other natural resources in these foreign countries. The prime minister of India too made an open declaration of “war against terrorism” after 26/11. P. Chidambaram [The Home Minister in charge of Operation Green Hunt] too recently announced the government’s decision to go on a military offensive adhering to the dictates of the U.S. This time the offensive was aimed at the people of this country, those who are among the most deprived and exploited. This is just to facilitate the handing over of the country’s natural resources to the plunder and loot of foreign corporations, even though purported aim is to re-establish the sovereign rule of the Indian state in Maoist-influenced regions.

One of the main proponents of this war on people is Manmohan Singh, who was an economist with the World Bank controlled by U.S. imperialism before he joined active politics. Till the day he became finance minister of the UPA government , P. Chidambaram was a member of the Board of Directors in Vedanta, the British mining multinational. He was also the lawyer of the notorious U.S. electricity corporation, Enron.

Both Singh and Chidambaram have been die-hard advocates of foreign investment to the country, the two foremost agents of U.S. imperialism in the country. On 18 June 2006, the prime minister made a statement in the parliament, pronouncing that, “the environment for foreign investment is going to be severely affected if left-wing extremism continues to grow and expand in the mineral-rich regions of the country”. The booty of this war declared by Manmohan Singh’s government on the people is going to be handed over to the imperialist countries, particularly to U.S. imperialism.

Borders within the country: Much like the U.S. government which sent 150,000 soldiers to occupy Iraq and 100,000 to Afghanistan, the Indian government too is sending its 100,000 troops to wage a war against in central and eastern parts of the country, with similar purposes in mind. Only that the target this time is our own people, in our own territory. It is as if the government has declared a part of this country to be a foreign land, and is now sending its armed forces to occupy it.

In addition to the Indian army and the air force, tens of thousands of armed personnel from the police, CRPF, ITBP, IRB, Special Task Force, Rashtriya Rifles, etc. [various special forces and paramilitary police] are mobilized to take part in this full-scale war. The home ministry and the defence ministry are jointly overseeing this war under the command of high-ranked army officers. Army colonels and brigadiers are running Jungle Warfare Schools in Chhattisgarh, and are imparting training to the troops to confront the people. The notorious Rashtriya Rifles under the direct command of the Indian army, as well as the ITBP and BSF, raised for defending the borders of the country, are being redeployed by the central government for this military offensive. Air force helicopters are being requisitioned, including the “Garud” armoured helicopters. The government is outlaying more than Rs. 7,300 crores [about $1.5 billion] of hard-earned money of the working people for this war.

The government is preparing to take the help of intelligence input from U.S. defence satellites as well.  In Lalgarh too, which the home secretary has termed as the “laboratory of joint army operations”, U.S. spy-satellites were used to scan Borpelia, Kantapahadi, Ramgarh and adjoining areas. In September 2009, the home minister Chidambaram went on a four-day state visit to the U.S. Just after his return from this trip, “Operation Green Hunt” was launched in the northern, southern and eastern parts of Bastar. At least 19 adivasi villagers were brutally murdered during this operation. It is worth noting that many teams of US security establishment secretly visited Chhattisgarh in order to assess the war preparations. The Indian government is also in constant consultation with the U.S. army officers who are commanding the imperialist war against Afghanistan and North-West Pakistan.

Corporate plunder for super-profits is the real motive behind this war: From the year 2001 onwards, there was a scramble among various state governments to outsmart one another in inviting foreign investors and comprador big business houses of the country to their respective states, and to conclude hundreds of agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). In Jharkhand itself, more than 100 MoUs were signed by the state government with Mittal, Jindal, Tata, Rio Tinto and other foreign and Indian big corporations in the last nine years involving mining projects, steel and aluminium plants, electricity plants, dams, and so on. In Orissa too, companies like Vedanta, POSCO, Tata, Hindalco, Jindal and Mittal are eyeing the unexplored natural resources. The BJP [Hindu fundamentalist] government in Chhattisgarh has already concluded agreements with Essar, Tata, Rio Tinto and other such big corporations to set up Special Economic Zones in the mining sector. In these three states alone, agreements worth Rs. 873,896 crores [about $ 19 billion] of investment in various projects have been concluded till September 2009.

The peasants who are largely dependent on land, forests and rivers for their livelihood, particularly the adivasis, have refused to give up their resources for corporate plunder. They have organized themselves against forcible land-acquisition for these big projects. The Maoists too, who have been fighting against the ruling classes to carry out a revolutionary transformation of the present exploitative system and for the liberation of the oppressed masses, have built up a strong resistance against these anti-people projects.

The Maoist movement has successfully organized the masses to fight for the scrapping of these agreements and MoUs, to resist the incursion of the corporates, and to establish people’s revolutionary power that guarantees the rights of the masses over land and natural resources in many of these regions.

The government intensified its onslaught on the people soon after the agreements and MoUs were concluded, and the adivasis in particular subsequently became the targets of state terror. The unleashing of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh left hundreds of adivasis dead, raped and maimed, thousands of houses burnt, and more than seven hundred villages displaced. Children were decapitated, dead bodies of adivasi villagers were mutilated and hung from trees, rape was used as a means of state repression.  Around 300,000 adivasis were forced to leave their villages, of which more than fifty thousand were forcibly kept in Salwa Judum camps. The first of these police camps were financed by Essar.

In the Singhbhum region of Jharkhand which attracted the largest amount of agreements for corporate investment, a reign of state terror was established through “Nagarik Suraksha Samiti”. The “Tritiya Prastuti Committee” was used in Balumath in order to crush the resistance against the setting up of a power plant by the Abhijit Group of Companies. In Orissa too, the so-called “Shanti-Sena” which complimented the mercenary goons of the corporations, was created to attack the people’s resistance.

The resistance of the people and the revolutionary movement has resiliently withstood the combined attacks of the police, paramilitary and the vigilante gangs, and defended the people’s rights over land and natural resources. Imperialist forces, particularly U.S. imperialism and its “strategic partner” the Indian government, have therefore launched this fresh military offensive on the people in these regions, with motives similar to those with which the U.S. imperialists went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan to subjugate and plunder the mineral and natural resources of these countries.

The only way forward is to Establish People’s Power: The people’s struggle for rights over their land, forests and natural resources has been continuing ever since the feudal and colonial forces have tried to dispossess them through the use of force or the “rule of law”. Ever since the imposition of the Forest Act by British colonialism, whereby the rights of the adivasis to their forests and land was taken away, many glorious rebellions challenged the might of British India. The adivasi Ulugulan under the leadership of Birsa Munda in Jharkhand, Bhumkal Vidroh in Bastar led by Gundadhar, the Ghumeswar rebellion in Orissa, etc., all were aimed at defending the rights of the people over land and forests. During the Naxalbari movement [the 1960s peasant rebellion in West Bengal that gave rise to the Maoist movement in India], too, the oppressed masses fought for their rights over land, and to establish people’s revolutionary power by overthrowing the feudal social order. The masses of this country in general and the adivasis in particular have a history of waging persistent and uncompromising struggles against the exploitation and oppression of the ruling classes.

Even today the masses of the entire country, led by the people’s movements in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal etc., are marching forward, holding high the banner of revolutionary class struggle and defeating the fascist attacks of the reactionary rulers one after another. Be it Operation Green Hunt or Operation Siddhartha, Salwa Judum or Harmad Vahini, Ranveer  Sena, Sunlight Sena, C-60, Black Hundreds, Sendra, Grey Hounds, CRPF or CoBRA, the fighting masses of the country have time and again stood up to ensure befitting response to the combined repression of the feudal, comprador big bourgeois and imperialist forces.

The Indian government must stop this war waged against the people of central and eastern India, and must immediately and unconditionally withdraw its armed forces from these regions. All the MoUs and agreements with foreign multinationals and Indian corporations for the plunder of natural resources of the people must be scrapped, and the land forcibly acquired for such projects must be restored to their rightful owners. In addition, the rights of the people over land and forests must be acknowledged. Otherwise, the people of this country will rise up against this war waged on them by the central and state governments, and fight a resolute struggle for establishing people’s sovereign power over their resources, their sources of life and livelihood. This struggle will not cease until the dream of a truly People’s Democratic India, visualized by Bhagat Singh and thousands of martyred revolutionaries, is turned into a reality.

The title of this article implies that the Maoists are hiding behind civilians, in contrast to Azad’s view that we “rely on the sea of people in which we swim like fish.”

Can use civilians to fight govt, warn Maoists

Manoj CG, Indian Express, November 12, 2009

With the Centre planning to move in more forces to combat Left-wing insurgents, the Maoists have for the first time indicated that they could use civilians in the war against the government. Giving an insight into their battle strategy, the Maoists have said they would not fight a “positional war” against a superior force and would instead employ guerilla warfare tactics.

Coming out with details about its operations, the Maoists have insisted that they enjoy “massive mass support” and claimed that a “handful of guerillas” had repulsed a massive joint operation by the Central forces in Dantewada district in September by “relying on the sea of people in which we swam like fish”. And they plan to use the local population in the future also to thwart more such attacks from security forces.

“All our plans, policies, strategy and tactics will be based entirely on the active involvement of the vast masses of people in this war of self-defence. The enemy class cannot decimate us without decimating the entire population in regions we control,” Maoist leader Azad, who is also the spokesperson of the group’s central committee, said in an interview with The Indian Express.

Almost reciprocating the Centre in discussing their detailed fighting strategy, Azad said the Maoists would never get into a head-to-head war with the “superior” government forces, like the LTTE rebels had done in Sri Lanka, for fear of being aerially bombarded. “Until the time we reach a decisive stage in our war, we will not fight a positional war in a small area against a superior force that is likely to resort to aerial bombardment if needed. We can fight the mightiest enemy by properly adhering to the principles of guerilla warfare. We will hit the enemy when and where it is convenient to us and not when and where he provokes us,” he said.

Amidst reports that Naxalite groups are regrouping in Andhra Pradesh, the Maoist leader confirmed they were trying to rebuild the movement in the southern state.

Ruling out any possibility of the Maoists laying down arms, he said, “We may lose some forces in this brutal offensive by the enemy….Even if we lose some forces we shall rebuild the movement as we are now doing in Andhra Pradesh. You will see the results of our painstaking underground work in the near future.”

Azad also reiterated that the Maoists were ready for a ceasefire but “never, not even in the dreams” can think about laying down arms.

That Was a Good Show

by Hisila Yami [Yami is a member of the Politburo of the UCPN (Maoist)]

eKantipur, November 16, 2009.  Also posted on MRzine.

What started as a focus on protests against military supremacy has silently led to a focus on support for civilian supremacy. The retirement of Rookmangud Katawal, the ex-military chief and the main person who triggered the present crisis, has de facto diverted the attention of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to support civil supremacy. This means the Maoist party has now shifted its attention to House supremacy whereby the unconstitutional move of the president overruling the then prime minister’s order should be tabled for discussion at the CA. However, this shift has not brought any consensus between the Maoists and the governing old mainstream parties.

At present, both hands of the Maoists are filled with agendas. The right hand represents civil supremacy, making a people’s republic constitution, adhering to the peace agreement, safeguarding nationhood and making a national coalition government. The left hand represents upholding class, ethnic, regional, gender and Dalit issues. In contrast, the governing old mainstream parties have no agenda except to stay in power by hook or crook. They are shamelessly alleging that the Maoists are using civil supremacy as a ploy to capture state power. They forget that the Maoists had resigned from government, not once but thrice, of their own volition on moral grounds.

Among all the above agendas, civil supremacy stands tall as it is on this footing that the rest of the issues can flourish, advance and become institutionalised leading to democracy, peace and stability in the country. To make this point heard, the United National People’s Movement (UNPM), a united front of the UCPN (Maoist), declared a package of protests spanning 13 days. It started with a warm-up consisting of torch  rallies (mashal) throughout the country on Nov. 1. This was followed by a gherao of the offices of 58 municipalities and nearly 4,000 village development committees across the country on Nov. 2. Then came a gherao of the district administration offices in all the 75 districts on Nov. 4 and 5. This was followed by a blockade of the capital valley, Kathmandu, at six entry points on Nov. 10. The climax of the series of protests was the encirclement of Singha Durbar, the secretariat of the Government of Nepal, at eight points for two days on Nov. 12 and 13. Thus for 13 days, the protests paralysed the whole functioning of the present government!

The success of this demo lies in the fact that it mobilised all sections of society. Cine artists came forward to show their solidarity by singing, dancing and airing their views, painters came to portray the current mood on canvas and poets came to recite befitting poems to charge the mood of the people. Cultural groups belonging to the Newar, Magar, Tamang, Kumal, Dalit and other communities performed their dances and songs giving a true festive mood to the whole movement. The highlight of the whole street movement was the presence of senior leaders including Prachanda, chairperson of the UCPN (Maoist) and Baburam Bhattarai, vice chairperson of the CPN (Maoist) and UNPM president, who were on the streets from dawn to dusk cheering and controlling the people and cadres.

The speeches focusing on civilian supremacy could not but have influenced the civil police as they are very aware of the effect that democratisation of the military has had on their own relationship with it. The speakers tried to harness their support by reminding them of their class, ethnic, regional and gender fraternity. No wonder there were very few skirmishes with the police except in a few places which were brought under control immediately. The beauty of the movement was that by chanting for enforcement of civilian supremacy, democracy and peace, it embodied the strength of civilians, the strength of street protests, the strength of a legal struggle, the power of the collective people, the power of a disciplined mass, the power of peaceful protest!

Another hallmark of the present movement was that it tried to prevent causing inconvenience to the people as much as possible. On the other hand, the movement tried to harass and embarrass the government as much as possible. The ministers’ last-minute, face-saving attempt to enter Singha Durbar at dawn exposed them further as it seemed that they were underground and illegal while the movement was legal and overground. If the parties who are in government had any sense of dignity, responsibility or maturity, they should have resigned by now.

The international observers, conflict management experts and political analysts  studying conflict in South Asia must have noted the big difference between the people’s movement in Nepal and in the rest of South Asia. Nearly 100 people have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan during this period while many more have been injured and maimed. More than that, the Maoists are a political force who are not only working for restructuring the state but also struggling for inclusive and proportional representation of all oppressed nationalities, classes, regions and Dalits  in the entire state functioning.

In contrast, the movements in Pakistan and Afghanistan are limited to securing their culture and religion against the influence of imperialist forces without giving much heed to reforming the politico-economic structure. And while UN agencies are facing tough resistance to their technical role in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the people in Nepal welcome them for their broader outlook to bring peace and stability.

It is important to note that the Maoists do what they say; and should they make a mistake, they apologise and try to rectify it. During wartime, they were damn serious about the war; and during peacetime, they are damn serious about the peace process. During the war, they upheld ideological supremacy over military supremacy; and now during peacetime, they are upholding civilian supremacy over military supremacy.

The problem of the Nepali Congress is that it is not upholding its own agendas such as civilian supremacy, rule of law, legislative supremacy, constitutional supremacy, commitment to the peace agreement and respect for the voters’ verdict. And the problem with the UML is that it is following the way of the Nepali Congress. What makes the Nepali Congress pathetically defensive is that they are contradicting their own stand. They recently passed collective leadership in place of a strong president in their own party. It is strange that they are advocating presidential supremacy over prime ministerial supremacy in a prime ministerial system which they themselves chose!

So the problem lies not with the Maoists but with the Nepali Congress and its stooge the UML who have not been able to play their historical roles as demanded by the occasion. Therefore, they are to be blamed if a third and more intense movement is launched after Nov. 20, the deadline given to the government to reach a national consensus to solve the present crisis. International stakeholders, particularly India and China, should too do their part of the homework to bring democracy, stability and peace in Nepal.

Nuns lead march against US troops in the Philippines.

Under the Obama Regime, Mindanao could become another Afghanistan

Jorge “Ka Oris“ Madios, Spokesperson, National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao

Philippine Revolution, November 13, 2009

On the occasion of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s two-day visit to the Philippines, the National Democratic Front-Mindanao (NDF-Mindanao) reiterates the demand of the Filipino people for the US government to immediately pull-out the US Pacific Command’s 600-strong Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTFP) from Mindanao and elsewhere in the Philippines.

Should the US refuse and instead continue heightening its military intervention and escalate its participation in counter-guerrilla operations, Mindanao and the entire Philippines could become another Afghanistan, Iraq or Vietnam where its forces will be caught in a spiral of armed mass resistance.

Despite persistent denials of Philippine and US officials, there is clear proof that US soldiers have been participating in counter-guerrilla operations jointly with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao and other parts of the Philippines. However, US military officials have been more forthright in bragging about the participation of American soldiers in operations against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayaff.

This year, US military elements were documented to have had an active role along with AFP regular troops in four separate operations in the town of Quezon, and the cities of Malaybalay and Valencia in Bukidnon province. American soldiers penetrated local villages in search of local guerrilla units of the New People’s Army (NPA). Since 2002, American troops have also been sighted in other parts of Mindanao, as well as in Samar, Panay, Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon.

The NDF-Mindanao would like to warn Ms. Clinton that in participating in local counter-guerilla operations, US forces are bound to suffer a bigger number of casualties. Last September, at least two American soldiers were killed when ambushed in Indanan, Sulu by local armed groups. Earlier this year, an American soldier was wounded in Bicol when the AFP unit he was embedded in was ambushed by NPA Red fighters.

Highlighting Ms. Clinton’s visit, the NPA has launched series of tactical offensives and sanctions across Mindanao as one way of underscoring the demand of the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces for the Obama government to immediately withdraw all its forces from the country and to end its interventionist policy.

The NDF-Mindanao denounces the publicity gimmick of Ms. Clinton in her plan to have her picture taken with the victims of recent supertyphoons that left thousands homeless and more impoverished then before. This is hypocrisy of the highest sort!

It is a historical fact that US logging and mining companies and big agribusiness corporations have been the biggest plunderers of Philippine natural resources and pollutants of the environment. The destruction that they have caused and continue to cause is the single-biggest cause of landslides, flooding and ecological imbalance. They are among the biggest landgrabbers that have displaced millions of peasants and indigenous peoples in Mindanao and the entire country.

The US government is overlooking the responsibility of US monopoly corporations over the destruction of the Philippine environment. If Ms. Clinton and the Obama government were any sincere in the Filipino people’s plight over the continued environmental degradation, they would compel logging and mining concessions and big agribusiness corporations, especially those which are directly-owned or are in partnership with US-based companies, to immediately stop their operations.

Instead, the US brazenly took advantage of the calamities by deploying American troops for so-called humanitarian operations which only serve to mask US imperialism’s military interventionism.

This article was published on eKantipur.com.

Maoists to declare autonomous states in 3rd-phase agitation

KATHMANDU, NOV 14 – Unified CPN (Maoist) Secretary CP Gajurel said that his party is preparing to declare autonomous states as per the party strategy in new phase of agitation which is on the horizon.

Speaking to the media people in Dharan on Saturday, he stated that if the parties agree upon discussing the Maoist resolution motion tabled at the Legislture-Parliament then the Maoists will let the House business resume. Otherwise, he said, his party will resort to a fresh round of agitation in a new way. According to him, the new agitation will be more intense but peaceful.

Gajurel, who earlier today in Dhankuta said the declaration of authonomous states and capture of the government offices was against the party policy and that the party will not approve such incidents, dubbed the declaration of Kirat Autonomous State in eastern hilly districts and the seizure of Dhankuta Municipality as but rumours.

As per the party strategy, he said, the Unified CPN (Maoist) will declare autonomous states during the third-phase of protest.

“Green Hunt will result in genocide of Adivasis”

Times of India, November 13, 2009

Gandhian Himanshu Kumar has been working among tribals [adivasis] in Bastar for more than 17 years. Though he has rehabilitated 30 villages devastated by the Chhattisgarh government’s anti-Naxalite campaign Salwa Judum, his ashram was demolished by the government in May this year. Kumar spoke to Jyoti Punwani:

How did you rehabilitate the villages?

As a Gandhian, I could not just stand by and watch when Adivasis who had fled their village because of Salwa Judum, were beaten up for having returned to their village to depose before the NHRC [National Human Rights Commission]. I decided to set up camp in that village. If the Salwa Judum forces came to burn it, they would have to burn me first. We persuaded the villagers to come back. They had lost everything seeds, cattle because whenever they tried to return, the Salwa Judum forces hounded them into camps and burnt their village. We arranged for everything, helped them plough their land. Slowly others began returning. Peace reigned in those villages till last month when Operation Green Hunt began.

The Supreme Court has directed the government to rehabilitate the tribals. If the government is not willing, let me do it. I can bring peace in a week. You withdraw your forces and provide the amenities that were stopped after Salwa Judum started: doctors, schools, aanganwadis [child/mother care centers].

Will the Maoists allow these to run?

Medical officers tell me ruefully that it’s the CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] that beat up their doctors who go into the jungle to treat patients. They beat up teachers too. They are furious that these people can travel safely inside the jungle, while they get blown up. I pointed out that doctors and teachers don’t go there with weapons like the CRPF does! Naxalites have said they will not interfere with my rehabilitation work because I have no political ambitions.

Is a dialogue possible?

What stops the government from talking to the Adivasis? You are a democratically elected government, find out what your people want. As for the Maoists, how can the Centre tell them to stop violence without stopping it first? Every day, your forces demand liquor, chickens, women… they behead a child in front of his grandfather, rape Adivasi women at will… And when the Adivasi picks up a lathi, they cry foul. Why are the forces there in Bastar? The Maoists weren’t marching into Delhi. Nor did the Adivasis plead for protection from them.

When the police, the administration, the judiciary has turned against the Adivasis, the Maoists have stood by them. The forces are there only to hunt the tribals from their land, so that the state can hand it over to corporates. The state has no desire for peace and is too arrogant to acknowledge its crimes. We have tried to file 1,000 FIRs against the police; not one has been registered.

Salwa Judum saw a 22-fold increase in Maoist numbers. Green Hunt will result in genocide of Adivasis. Those who survive will become Naxalites.

When the State Declares War on the People

A 15 minute Trailer on the Human Rights Violations in Chhattisgarh resulting from Operation Green Hunt.

Synopsis

We have been hearing many stories about the human rights violations before and after Operation Green Hunt was announced. Allegations and counter-allegations have been going around. Fact-finding investigations have uncovered the atrocities security forces are committing in these areas, but now those very findings are being questioned.

At such a time it is crucial to present the reality and tear the veils obscuring the truth. When the State Declares War on the People is a 15-minute trailer by Gopal Menon based on his recent coverage of the ground reality in Chhattisgarh. This short film contains exclusive interviews with victims and their testimony including 1 1/2 year old Suresh who had three fingers chopped off his left hand, an old man who was electrocuted and whose flesh was ripped off with knives, women raped by Special Police Officers and CRPF.

The film also presents the views of Arundhati Roy and Mahesh Bhatt, two eminent citizens who have been closely following developments in Chhattisgarh. The clear intention of the State – to wipe out all resistance through terror in the name of fighting the Maoists – is demonstrated in this film.

About the Director

Gopal Menon is an activist-filmmaker focusing on caste, communalism and nationality. He was arrested twice while trying to go to Lalgarh and beaten with rifle butts and lathis. He was detained in Dantewada too. This is a trailer of a larger film on the Indian State’s war on the people.

Some of Menon’s earlier films are Naga Story: The Other Side of Silence, Hey Ram!! Genocide in the Land of Gandhi, PAPA 2 (about disappearances in Kashmir) and Resilient Rhythms (a rainbow overview of the Dalit situation) amongst others.

The trailer for this film is available on YouTube in two parts:

Part 1 (8:17 minutes) at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rygJzzutBOg

Part 2 (6:44 minutes) at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Kvl3e1MlM

Below is a report on a screening of the film at the Press Club of India in Delhi.

Maoism a local problem, with local solutions: activists

Vaibhay Vats, Indian Express, November 16, 2009

New Delhi: In a decrepit hall at the Press Club of India, a handful of people watched glimpses of Gopal Menon’s film, When the State Declares War on the People. The 10-minute preview, which began with the tale of a child whose fingers were chopped off, spoke of the atrocities committed by security forces in the Maoist war zone.

The screening is part of a campaign to drum up support against Operation Green Hunt. The short preview of the film was followed by an interaction with the media, where Menon was joined by Gandhian activist Himanshu Kumar.

Kumar, director of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in Chhatisgarh, said, “If anyone stays in Bastar and Dantewada for a few hours, you can hear several tales of horror from everywhere.”  Describing himself as “a commentator you don’t want to listen to when you’re losing the match”, Kumar was critical of the attitude of the state towards dissenting voices. “People taking up these issues are being labelled anti-national or Naxal sympathisers,” he said.

Menon, who was content to let his film do the talking, added, “Incidents of violence by the state are not getting the same attention as incidents of Maoist brutality.”

Kumar said dialogue was essential between the state and its people. “Forget the Maoists, talk to your own people. Maoism is a local problem with local solutions,” he said.  On why the Maoists had not come to the table despite the offer of talks by the Home Minister, Kumar said the killings needed to come to an end for any meaningful discussion to take place.

Kumar, who will be meeting P Chidambaram, said, “The Home Minister cannot repeat the statement that law and order is a state subject. With gross human rights violations escalating the conflict, sincere efforts from the Centre are required.”  Deeply engaged as a grassroots activist, Kumar stayed clear from any dogmatic positions, but simply stated, “Operation Green Hunt is leading to that stage — the point of no return.”

This piece first appeared on CounterPunch.

“I Want to Dance With the Real Hero of My Country”

The Andolan in Kathmandu and the Revolution to Follow

By GARY LEUPP

“So far,” notes Peter Lee of the Asia Times, “Western media have reported remotely and somewhat uncomprehendingly on the massive demonstrations in Kathmandu led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with a marked lack of interest. This perhaps reflects the shared desire of the Indian, Chinese and Western governments not to inflame the situation with excessive attention and rhetoric.” He refers to the two-day action in the Nepali capital Thursday and Friday.

But those demonstrations should be of enormous interest. According to AsiaNews, “The second phase of the so-called ‘people’s movement-III’ saw more than 150,000 participants, including former Maoist guerrillas and United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPM-M) members of parliament and militants, gathered around the Singha Durbar, Nepal’s official seat of government.”

The Maoists virtually paralyzed the government in a stunning display of power. All the top Maoist leaders marched through the city, some meeting the police at the barricades and breaking through to assume positions around Singha Durbar where they addressed the huge crowd.

It was overwhelming a peaceful, even festive andolan or mass demonstration, although there were some clashes with police. A senior Maoist leader, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, was among those wounded. He told Agence France-Presse, “We are now giving the government and other parties an opportunity to look into our demands. The ball is in the government’s court.” The most powerful Maoist figure, former prime minister Prachanda, issued a sharper warning to the regime, giving it a seven-day ultimatum (to November 20) to restore “civilian supremacy” or face a general strike and other strong protests.
When you watch video of Baburam Bhattarai, the brilliant academic who became the number two figure in the Maoist movement and served as finance minister under the administration of Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Pranchanda), leading the marchers confronting the helmeted police, successfully pressing through, you get a sense of genuine historical momentum gathering here.

Rekha Thapa, one of Nepal’s most popular young actresses, arrived as one of many who sang and danced for the huge crowd. She told those assembled, “I’ve always danced with film heroes. Now I want to dance with the real hero of my country.” A rather embarrassed looking Prachanda briefly accommodated her, the images captured on national television and on newspaper covers.

It was brilliant political theater.

According to S.D. Muni, a professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore and authority on the Nepali Maoist movement, “The numbers they were able to mobilise and the fact they were able to keep control and maintain the peace indicate the protest was a success. It also showed the government is incapable of dealing with this kind of challenge.”

I’ve followed the Maoist movement in Nepal since the inception of the People’s War in 1996. I’m always struck by the creativity of the Nepali Maoists’strategy and tactics. From 1996 to 2006 the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (now the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist)—originally a parliamentary party, the leadership of which had determined that armed struggle was the only way towards liberation—waged a guerrilla war against the monarchy. Its success was breathtaking. It controlled 80% of the country by 2005 when the very unpopular King Gyandendra seized absolute power sidelining the seven main political parties.

It then, having surrounded Kathmandu Valley with its People’s Liberation Army, agreed to the 2006 Comprehensive Agreement with the political parties whereby they would all jointly work to bring down the king, restoring parliamentary democracy, while the Maoists would lay down their arms under UN supervision, ending the war. A key provision of the Agreement was that the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army be integrated into the Nepali Army (formerly the Royal Nepali Army).

The Maoists also demanded the convening of a Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution, and the proclamation of a republic. They won these demands, and in the April 2008 elections for the assembly, won 38% of the vote, twice the number of the next party. In August Prachanda became Prime Minister. So much for the “End of History” thesis. A Maoist having established his credentials by the barrel of a gun was having them further validated by the ballet box. Jimmy Carter was there to confirm that yes, indeed, it was a fair election.

But this was not yet revolution. This was not state power. This was communists who had control of the countryside, who did not want to bludgeon their way into Kathmandu Valley (or were not sure that they could do it, not necessarily confident that they had enough urban support), savvily working out a strategy to gain a presence in this zone where over a million of Nepal’s 28 million people live so that they could develop their political base here prior to a real seizure of power. The strategy seems to have worked out very well.

First the Maoists, playing by the parliamentary rules, swept the polls. Then they exposed the shamof the system to which they were being asked to conform. So many had praised them, for laying down their arms, for agreeing to participate in normal electoral politics! But they for their part had pointed out that their army needed to be merged with the Nepali Army as part of the Comprehensive Agreement.

And the Nepali Army, still ridden with pro-Royalist sentiment, had refused to implement the provisions in the agreement pertaining to PLA integration and instead sought to recruit new troops. This was really the crux of the problem.
I’m quite sure at least some of the Maoists had anticipated this scenario all along. That is, they had foreseen that the old state power reliant ultimately on armed force would not submit to the terms of the agreement or to the will of the people as expressed in elections.

The real issue is of course state power, and you can’t obtain state power when you don’t control the army. In May Prime Minister Prachanda asked the head of the Army, Gen. Rukmangad Katwal, to step down and appointed a new army chief. The President, Ram Baran Yadav, a member of the Nepal Congress Party, countermanded the order keeping Katwal at his post. It is widely thought that he enjoyed India’s support in this action. At that point Prachanda did something quite unexpected: in a televised address he denounced the president’s move as “illegal and unconstitutional” and resigned.

The Maoists not only quit the government, but pronounced the selection of a new one by the parliament as an unconstitutional process. They boycotted the election of Prachanda’s successor, party leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha declaring, “Without restoring civilian supremacy and correcting the president’s move, the new government will be unconstitutional. This government has wrong political ground as it is being formed as a ploy to sabotage the peace and constitution-making process and restore military supremacy. I want to give you a benefit of doubt, if you are nationalist, you will come back to the path drawn by the people’s movement.”

In the six months since the Maoists have made it impossible for the 22-party coalition government to function, accusing it of being unwilling to enforce the Comprehensive Agreement integrating the two armies. They have focused on this issue of “civilian supremacy,” which is really a matter of focusing upon the fact that there remain two headquarters of real power in the country.

There’s the status quo in the Singha Durbar complex, where the Maoists have tried to negotiate their way as parliamentary politicians but where power is ultimately guaranteed by the old state’s army backed up by India and U.S., the army that the Maoists confronted and humiliated big-time. And there’s the new order being built elsewhere.

Last week, Maoists in the state of Kirat declared the autonomy of that state. This was in accordance with the “first phase” plans for the People’s Movement III prior to the mass show of strength in the capital. But the announcement of ethnic-based states in a federal system had been postponed after some discussion and it’s not clear whether local party leader and politburo member, coordinator of Kirat State Uprising Committee, Gopal Kirati actually had Central Committee permission. The plan to shut down the international airport was cancelled after ambassadors’ protests but the plan to cut off all roads to Kathmandu was executed efficiently after November 1.

Ambulances and other essential vehicles were allowed egress and ingress; the Maoists having acquired much valley support are not looking to lose it.

But they are making the point to their political colleagues, with whom they’ve worked through the Comprehensive Agreement but who they see as for the most part only temporary allies at best, that just because they’ve put down their arms doesn’t mean they can’t use their mass organizational skills to scare the hell out of them. The next step is a general strike.

In the meantime, the plan is for a no-confidence vote in the parliament. Meanwhile, the Maoists control access to the valley and it’s quite likely that activists are pouring in for the next round of andolan. The “Prachanda Path” as articulated since 2001 has involved a fusion of the Chinese People’s War model and the October Revolution. Which of course means: urban insurrection.

Meanwhile UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, noting the obvious—that the PLA demobilization under UN certification, which was supposed to result in the integration of the two armies under the terms of the Comprehensive Agreement, wasn’t happening—in late October criticized the current Nepali government for proceeding “with a fresh round of recruitment into the Nepal Army” and resuming “the import of lethal military equipment.”

“In the assessment of UNMIN [United Nations Mission in Nepal], either step would violate the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement on Monitoring the Management of Arms and Armies. UNMIN has continued to consistently convey this position to the Government and the public. The Minister of Defence, Bidhya Bhandari, has called for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to be revised, claiming that restrictions it places on recruitment, arms purchases and training had been detrimental to the effective functioning of the Nepal Army. UCPN-M has strongly protested her statement.”

Prachanda cited this report at the andolan last week. And I believe he cited this passage in Ban’s report:

“In my meeting with the Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, at Sharm el-Sheikh in July, I conveyed the strong concern of the international community at the lack of progress in the peace process and stressed the need for a time-bound effort to resolve the impediments hampering the process. My Representative in Nepal and other senior officials have consistently encouraged consensus and dialogue between the parties, recommending the establishment of a more formal dialogue mechanism to streamline negotiations and find creative solutions to overcome the current impasse. At the same time, my Representative has also underlined the need to avoid provocative statements or actions in order to maintain a positive climate for dialogue.”

That is to say, Ban’s urging the reintegration of the Maoists into government, realizing they’re organizing outside government from a position of strength. And the Maoists naturally use this report to strengthen their case at this time.

The South Korean diplomat has absolutely no personal interest in facilitating the consummation of the twenty-first century’s first revolution led by a self-pronounced Maoist party. But he apparently thinks it’s best to recognize the reality of Maoist political strength and to stick to the 2006 agreement.

Given this statement, the Maoists who now boast they have all Kathmandu behind them can say much of the world as represented by the UN secretary general agrees with their goal of “civilian supremacy,” and that the 22-party coalition with the UML and Congress at its head, linked to the Army, India and ultimately U.S. imperialism is the isolated, marginalized force.

There are so many logical and moral arguments to assemble as Nepal’s October approaches. It’s the mix of models, and ever-shifting tactics, and adaptability and revolutionary competence of these communists that never ceases to impress me. I truly think they may pull it off.

Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct Professor of Religion. He is the author of Servants, Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan; Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan; and Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch’s merciless chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, Imperial Crusades.

He can be reached at: gleupp@granite.tufts.edu