Nepal: Transitional Demands of Peace & Civilian Control of the Army

photo by E.R.

The following was written as a comment on Kasama by Eric  Ribellarsi.

I am on the ground here in Nepal. I would like to say a few things:

What is happening in Nepal right now is debates. The UCPN(M) has been publicly stating that it is in a period of intense debate over how to go forward. The next two issues of The Red Star are our in paper back form here in Nepal, and they are both written as a sort of polemical back and forward between different strategic approaches to go forward. Vol. 3 Issue 16, is dedicated to debate over this issue and is titled REVOLUTION: Possible or Not! For now, no official strategy or analysis of the situation has been released. The Party’s recent publications are highly militant but contain divergent lines over how to go forward. Vol. 3 Issue 15 of Red Star features an opinion piece calling for leaving the CA. That is certainly one sentiment among a section of the revolutionaries here.

Rumor has it that these debates are concluding and that a new highly militant strategy representing a huge shift in line is coming. This is a rumor that I heard from low-level cadre and should be taken as that.

Another point I’d like to make: The UCPNM has been in debates for over two weeks now. There is no official statement of how the UCPNM will move forward and the strategic documents are not released. But people like Joseph Ball seem to already know. That is rather amazing, isn’t it?

Another story about the integration of armies:

I spoke to Santosh Buddha, the leader of the UCPNM in Rolpa, about the integration of armies. He actually laughed and told me

“That is a joke. It is tactics. We would never allow that, but the government also will never allow that. Revolutions contain contradictions and unities of opposites. The people want peace and they want revolution. This is a contradiction. We must put forward slogans which capture the contradiction, and push forward as far as we can in the way of peace, and then go over to revolution when people see that only revolution brings real peace. Our slogans are like the Bolshevik slogans: ‘peace, land, and bread.’”