Prachanda: “We won’t disband our army”

Prachanda: “…we believe that once we are in the government we’ll take so many decisions, important decisions, in favor of the masses of the people and in favor of our nation, and that those kinds of decisions will allow us to have a broader mass base and broader organization and will ultimately help us to move ahead.”

Prachanda: Questions & Answers on Eve of Constituent Assembly

An exclusive interview with Prachanda was posted to MRZine on the eve of the Constituent Assembly. Mary Des Chene and Stephen Mikesell conducted the interview. Prachanda details the political terrain, behavior of the other political parties and orientation towards a republican consensus.

It is 14th Jeth, 2065, [Tuesday, May 27th, 2008] in Nepal, the day before the Constituent Assembly is to convene and declare Nepal a full Republic. The king remains in his palace. The form of the new government, who will lead it, whether the old parliamentary parties will join in a Maoist-led government or, as they have indicated so far, will boycott and try to isolate it — these and other basic questions remain to be resolved. The following is an early morning interview with CPN(Maoist) leader Prachanda, before he embarked on a last intensive round of negotiations to try to bring the parliamentary parties into a coalition government under Maoist leadership.

Q. You may become Nepal’s new head of state within a few days, but the parliamentary parties are putting up a lot of blockades. Yesterday your party put forth a 9 point proposal to address the current political impasse. What are the main barriers to formation of a CPN(Maoist)-led government at this point? What are the challenges and what are the proposals you’ve made to the parliamentary parties?

A. Intensive debate, discussion and struggle is going on, on the question of formation of the government, and mainly on the questions of the head of the state and the head of the government. These questions raise so many ideological and political issues, involving the class interests of the parties.

The Maoist Face of New Nepal

‘Fierce one’ ousts king to become new power in Nepal

KATHMANDU (AFP) — After 25 years underground and a decade of armed struggle across Nepal’s jungles and hills, Maoist leader Prachanda has become the most powerful man in Nepal and is set to lead a new government.

On Wednesday, Nepal’s newly-elected constituent assembly was set to implement a long-standing Maoist demand — abolishing the country’s 240-year-old monarchy and turning the country into a republic.

Prachanda, who signed up to peace in 2006, has had trouble shaking off his ruthless warlord image.

But many believe he is now the right man to rebuild the impoverished Himalayan country wedged between giant India and Nepal after the deadly civil war that ravaged the country’s economy.

“It is Prachanda who really set the agenda for a constituent assembly, republicanism and federalism,” said Sangraula, who writes for Nepal’s best-selling Kantipur daily. “He wants to move Nepali society forward.”

The Maoist chief is now in his strongest position yet.

Teach-in: Building a New Revolutionary Type of State

This article appeared in the issue 9 of “The Worker” (February 2004), the CPN’s (Maoist) theoretical journal. It outlines the their basic stances on theoretical issues involving the creation of a new Socialist state in Nepal.

The Question of Building a New Type of State

by Baburam Bhattarai

“The basic question of every revolution is that of state power. Unless this question is understood there can be no intelligent participation in the revolution, not to speak of guidance of the revolution.”

– V.I. Lenin, (1917b: 34)

The question of state power has now become the central question for the New Democratic revolution in Nepal, which is marching forward to capturing central state power after building revolutionary base areas and local power in the vast rural areas. The question has assumed significance and may be discussed primarily from two angles. Firstly, in the universal context; and secondly, in the concrete national context. Firstly in the universal or general sense, the proletarian (i.e. New Democratic or Socialist) state power is of a ‘new type’ as compared to all the state powers of minority exploiter classes in history. Further-more, after the downfall of all People’s Democratic or Socialist state powers including those in Russia, China and others in the past, the proletarian state powers arising in a new setting in the 21st century have to be of a further newer type. Secondly, in the concrete semi-feudal and semi-colonial national context of Nepal, where even the old bourgeois revolution and state has not been accomplished, the prospective proletarian state would naturally be, and have to be, of a ‘new’ type. Hence, we would first make a general review of the historical experiences on the question of state and strive to analyse the fundamental characteristics of a new type of state.

Minutes of a Constitutent Assembly

from the United We Blog site — a blogging site of Nepali journalists (saying what they often can’t say in print). This site carries extensive coverage of anti-Maoist points of view.

Historic Session of Constituent Assembly Begins in Nepal

Now (22:45),the PM, who is about 84-year-old, leaves for his official residence.

Now (22:43),the votes are being counted. It appears that there are no NO votes against the five-point proposal to declare Nepal a republic.

[Meanwhile, TV stations are reporting that the government has given tomorrow and the day after tomorrow public holidays to celebrate the declaration of republic. Five out of 26 remaining members of the CA have been nominated, reported a TV station.]

Pictures of A Revolutionary Celebration

The long and bitterly fought demands for the abolition of the monarchy were satisfied today, as people celebrated in the streets. The centuries old Hindu monarchy is being abolished (amid great struggle and tension), and the path is possibly being opened to further and deeper revolutionary changes.

Major Change Comes to Nepal: The End of a Monarchy

Reports as events unfold:

In nepali, but with video scenes:

Nepal on verge of entering new era

KATHMANDU, May 28 – After a nearly eight-hour delay, Wednesday’s much-anticipated first Constituent Assembly (CA) is about to kick off at the Birendra International Convention Centre (BICC) in the capital.
The CA, elected through the landmark elections held last month, will formally announce the implementation of the federal democratic republic system in the country, ending the 240-year-old institution of monarchy.