This uncut-hour long audio is from the press conference organized on June 19th by the newly formed Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist. The question and answer session is available in Nepali. Thanks to Comrade Pooja for taking her time to make this audio available in English transcription. And thanks to World People’s Resistance Movement of Britain for circulating this.
Q: How do you justify the formation of the new party?
How should people understand this?
A: – Communist party is a party for the benefit of the proletariat and the people. In the case of Nepal, the aim of a communist party remains to move forward, raising the issues of safeguarding national sovereignty; people’s democracy and livelihood then ultimately leap towards socialism and communism. This is self-proven. Read the rest of this entry »
Gajurel – Govt Conspiring to Bring Sponsored Constitution
Republica
Kathmandu, May 12: UCPN (Maoist) Secretary CP Gajurel claimed on Saturday that the government and major political parties were creating an environment to impose state of emergency for what he called promulgating a ‘sponsored constitution’.
Addressing a program organized to launch a book ‘Nepali Janayudhha’ (People’s War) authored by Dr. Rishi Raj Baral at the factional headquarters of Maoist party’s Senior vice-chairman Mohan Baidya in Kupandole, Gajurel said in a veiled language that the new constitution has already been drafted in India.
He alleged that Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the Prime Minister and party Vice Chairman Baburam, along with the leaders of Nepali Congress. UML, and Madhesi parties were trying to endorse a ‘ready-made’ constitution on May 27th even though they seem busy in political negotiations these days. Read the rest of this entry »
In celebration of International Women’s Day we are re-posting this excellent interview with Sahmjana Gharti of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). If you haven’t seen it, please watch and share.
This is an eyewitness report from Nepal by Jed Brandt
Many Kasama readers are familiar with this article from May First 2010. New Kasama readers may not have seen this or may not even know much about Nepal.
This first hand report gives an inspiring picture of the determination of the Nepalese people, especially the youth, to live in a new socialist world.
Nepal’s Streets for May 1: We Make the Power!
by Jed Brandt
Kathmandu, April 29, 2010: Business as usual is over in Kathmandu. With two days to go until May First, overflowing buses are pulling in by the hour to the outskirts of town.
The city is crowded. Bus caravans are unloading directly into street marches wild with chanting, marshaled by uniformed cadre from the Young Communist League. Despite a week of fear-mongering by Nepal’s mainstream press, the crowds are militant but unarmed. And they are giddy despite harassment from the Armed Police on the roads leading into the city. Read the rest of this entry »
Marxist-Leninist
Communist Organization — Proletarian Way (France) http://vp-partisan.org
Two years ago, in December 2009, we stated: “In Nepal, that’s are the Maoists (the United Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist) who won the support of the majority of the population and organized the popular uprising that has made down with the monarchy. Today, at their initiative, a new wave of popular uprisings has just begun in the country to eliminate the power the bourgeoisie which is still powerful in the economy, the government and the army, especially since it has strong support from the superpowers, Indian neighbor in the first place. In the complex situation of a tiny semi-feudal surrounded country, in the debate and the fight of the day, the Maoists of Nepal have to advance the democratic revolution. ” Read the rest of this entry »
This is a poem by Mani Thapa which appeared in the recent English version of The Red Star http://redstarnepal.com – a voice of the Revolutionary forces within the UCPN (M).
This is one of the many poems by revolutionary poets in Nepal on the subject of The People’s War. This poem is from an anthology: Poems of the People’s War, published by Ichchhuk Cultural Academy.
In the Kasama article Nepal’s Crossroads: Without a People’s Army, the People Have Nothing , written in June 2011, Eric Ribellarsi and Mike Ely wrote:
“There is a revolutionary people in Nepal – that has matured through the complex ebbs and flows of a real revolutionary situation. There are bases of the Peoples Liberation Army where determined commanders remain focused on seizing state power. There are cores of communist revolutionaries at all levels of the Maoist party who are seeking to carve a way forward. There are embryos of popular militias and peoples power. And there are millions and millions of Nepali people caught between hope and frustration – wanting a new Nepal and a new world.”
Here is one story of Nepalis who have given their lives for revolutionary change. Now, as the fate of the revolution looks less certain, they are stuck in precisely that state between hope and frustration . It appeared at asianewsnet.
An Encounter in Ghorabi
Adiya Adhikari
The Kathmandu Post 5-10-11: After the end of the war, Saraswati Magar (name changed) , a Maoist activist from Rolpa, built a single-story two-room brick house on a small plot of land on the outskirts of Ghorabi, Dang.
The following response to an earlier post about the 7 point agreement on Nepal’s Army integration raises a number of important questions. How did counter-revolutionary lines develop within the UCPN(M)? Was it due to the class backgrounds of certain leaders? Or was it due to incorrect or dogmatic views of the path to New Democracy and socialism?
And, ultimately, what is the road to socialism in a country like Nepal, which is still shaking off its feudal class relations and is vulnerable to the global reach of military and economic imperialism? What kind of transitional stages are necessary? Should revolutionaries unite with the bourgeois parties who want to bring investment from India and elsewhere to ‘develop’ Nepal along capitalist lines? The revolutionary forces in Nepal have argued that this is a road to further immiseration for the vast majority of the country’s people.
We encourage readers to share their views on these questions.
by Kumar Sarkar
Siva said: “Leaving aside what the likes of Bhattarai and Hisila Yami had in mind when joining the Maoist Party, we need to examine how others from different class backgrounds and with healthy attitudes got corrupted– and that may include Dahal.”
Bhattarai and Yami did not ‘sneak’ into the party. Nor did Prachanda. They joined with honest intentions of ‘fighting for socialism’.
While in Nepal, I heard a lot of discussion about the situation of Bhutanese refugees who had been resettled in the US. People were outraged at the fact that the US would only accept these refugees on the condition that they repay their airfare and other costs. In an economy where real unemployment is more than 20% in some places, it is not clear how this resettlement plan is different from a state of indentured servitude. It is a grotesque example of the way the US immerses the world’s people in debt and subjugation–even within its borders.
There may be sinister political reasons for the US deal to accept Bhutanese refugees. This embassy cable from 2007, exposed by Wikileaks, shows the US government’s concern over Maoist organizing in the Bhutanese refugee camps, as well as the potential for communists to gain power in Bhutan itself:
“…each confirmed that the Maoists could pose a significant threat. Rutland alleged that the BCP openly threatened to use the refugees in the Nepali camps to overthrow the monarchy and the new government.”
Revolution in South Asia also reported in 2008 that two Maoist groups did emerge within the refugee camps. Whether or not there is a direct connection between the resettlement scheme and the potential for strong communist organizations in Bhutan, it seems impossible to believe that the US is involved in this situation for altruistic reasons. The following piece from Lancaster Online gives a brief introduction to the refugees’ plight.
“No other party in Nepal has the influence, apparatus or popular support of the Maoist Party. As a result the debate within the Maoist party has emerged as a key arena for the country as a whole.
This means that the leading representatives of these two roads within the Maoist party have become, in many ways, the leading representatives of those roads within the society as a whole. The future of Nepal may well be determined by which wing of the Maoist party is the one that now emerges with countrywide power.”
* * * * * * * *
Baidya Warns Public Exposure Against Dahal
by B Basnet
Kathmandu, Oct.12: Maoist hardliners have further tightened the screws on Chairman Pushpa Dahal, warning the latter that they would launch a “strident exposure drive” against his ideological “deviation” inside and outside the party if he doesn’t cancel the national gathering of party cadres slated for October 16 in Kathmandu.
The People's Liberation Army has been a symbol of liberation in Nepal
by Aditya Adhikari
The Kathmandu Post, 05-10-2011
After the end of the war, Saraswati Magar (name changed), a Maoist activist from Rolpa, built a single-story, two-room brick house on a small plot of land on the outskirts of Ghorahi, Dang.
The responsibilities given to her by the party require her to spend much of her time in Rolpa, but she has a nine-year old daughter in Ghorahi, and it is to be with her that Saraswati built the house. Having joined the movement when she was sixteen, even before the formal announcement of the People’s War, her primary life-experience has been of great strain and hardship.
On the run from the state authorities for many years, she abandoned her daughter to the care of relatives when she was only 21 months of age and was reunited with her only after the peace process began. Most of her friends and relatives from Rolpa joined the party. Her husband died during the conflict, as did two of her brothers.
Life is easier now for Saraswati. She looks back at amazement at the level of physical hardship and deprivation she endured so willingly during the war. Yet, she is restless. Political work does not offer her the satisfaction that it did before; yet it still obsesses her.
“When I come to Ghorahi,” she says, “after a few days I feel like going back to Rolpa, to work on the organisation. But when I go to Rolpa, there is not so much work to do and then I feel like returning to my daughter in Ghorahi.”
This comes from the Red Star (Nepal). Posting here does not imply endorsement of the views presented.
Baidya Ideological Faction Centralizing Cadres
Kathmandu, 22 September: Revolutionary ideological faction under the leadership of com. Kiran has concluded its central level cadre training and interaction in Kathmandu valley yesterday. The questions were on how to face all the intrigues and the plots that are being developed under the bogus revolutionary cover of the party leadership. The question of the federalism, respected integration of army, drafting people’s constitution, issue of key, return the seized land using police force by the government were discussed widely.
Cadres gathering in the central interaction actively and seriously took part. They are given directions to go back in the field and work actively with the people in the local areas. All the cadres who had appeared with some confusions, whether the leadership takes its initiative to advance or not, were made clear when the interaction concluded. Cadres returned in a very exiting mood and they shared their live experiences among the co-warriors with their warm hand shaking.
This comes from the Red Star (Nepal). As our usual policy, the views presented do not necessarily reflect the views of South Asia Revolution.
Fight against revisionism in UCPN-Maoist
Kathmandu, 25 September: In the inner struggle of UCPN-Maoist party in Nepal, new and new ideas and the style of two line struggle are being developed in the course struggle. Many political and other analysts have said that the party splits and the interest of the reactionaries will be fulfilled. Read the rest of this entry »
This commentary comes from the Nepal Times. Per South Asia Revolution’s usual policy, posting here does not imply endorsement of the views presented. We will have on going series of articles and features related to the future of the Nepalese revolution. As this commentary suggests, events in Nepal are sharpening to a concentrated contradiction between the current dead-locked system, and a revolutionary transformation. Which characteristic will determine the Nepalese revolution in this period is yet to be seen.
“The message is clear: a significant faction of the Maoist party appears to remain committed to armed revolution as the only route to pursuing their political aims… Nepal’s politics has become so corrosive and so driven by patronage that any party coming close to power will be both compromised and consumed by it, abandoning both principle and ideology for the next pay-off. The Maoist leadership has now itself been swallowed up by this and increasingly alienated from its traditional base. The scary truth is that the radicals within the Maoists have been proved right by the gridlock of the last five years: there appears no capacity in the Nepali political system for social transformation, not even, it seems, for effective governance.”
The next People’s War?
A significant faction of the Maoist party remains committed to armed revolution
SIMON ROBINS in BARDIYA
The split within the Maoists is seen by many as a final test of their commitment to peace, and a test of the resolve and authority of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
However, this remains a metropolitan discussion, centred around the politics of the CA and trading of policies for money and position that has long defined Nepali politics. One faction of the Maoist party has already taken the discussion out of the Kathmandu back-rooms to articulate its position on a broader stage. For the last month, a Maoist cultural program, dominated by the hardline Kiran faction, has gone around the country laying out its critique of the peace process and more pointedly of both the position and integrity of the party leadership.
This program is a step above those organised during the ‘People’s War’, with a red tent, a sound system and headset microphones giving the performance the air of a tv show. The backdrop of the performance reveals its priorities: an armed PLA fighter in silhouette in front of a colourful explosion. The content has also evolved from traditional songs and dances of Nepal’s ethnic groups to a well acted, and often hilarious, drama.
The show tells the story of a Maoist CA member allied to Prachanda’s faction who now lives comfortably in Kathmandu with a new young wife, and spends his evenings in bars taking money for favours from businessmen. He has short shrift with idealistic party members from his rural district, while his constituents live in poverty, nostalgic for the ‘People’s Government’. The penultimate scene refers directly to the issue over which the Kiran faction has chosen to fight the party leadership: control of the PLA’s weapons. Read the rest of this entry »
The CPI(M-L) Naxalbari, not to be confused with the CPI(Maoist), released the following statement. It addresses the current situation facing the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), in which one section of that party appears to have abandoned a direction that would lead to socialism. The statement also calls on the UCPN(M) to change its direction:
But the immediate task before the Maoists and the revolutionary masses in Nepal is to raise the flag of open rebellion against the revisionist headquarters and thus initiate the reconstruction of the party on solid Marxist-Leninist-Maoist bases, firmly united with the masses. They must get out off the revisionist swamp of Constitutional Assembly politicking and retake the road of revolution.
As usual, posting here does not imply endorsement of all views discussed in the piece. It originally appeared at Democracy and Class Struggle.
The South Asia Revolution site publishes this as a part of a series of responses to the changing conditions in the Nepalese revolution and responses from various forces on this issues. Posting here does not imply endorsement of the views presented. We recommend our readers examine this essay by Mike Ely and Eric Ribellarsi titled Nepal’s Crossroads: Without a People’s Army, The People Have Nothing.
Press Statement on Nepal by Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Naxalbari
Monday, September 12, 2011–
On the current situation in Nepal and the challenge before the Maoists
Participation in the Constitutional Assembly process, and in government, in Nepal has been used by the UCPN (Maoist) leadership to liquidate the revolutionary nature of the party and sink it in the morass of parliamentarism. For quite some time now, this has been the concrete political manifestation of revisionism, of the derailment of the party from the path of New Democratic Revolution. It has now been taken to a new depth with the recent appointment of Dr. Baburam Bhattarrai as the Prime Minister of Nepal through a deal with the Madheshi parties, known agents of the Indian expansionists. Following a script already given by the reactionaries and endorsed by the UCPN (Maoist) leadership, the new government promptly handed over the keys of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) stored weapons. Severely drained of its fighting qualities through the policies followed by the leadership of the UCPN(Maoist), it is now being prepared for formal elimination, to finish off the last remaining, and one of the most important, achievements of the 10 years of People’s War. Thus the people will have nothing to bank on and will be helplessly thrown back to the reactionary wolves. Read the rest of this entry »
Revolution in South Asia 
Commentary: The Next People’s War?
Posted by celticfire84 on September 23, 2011
This commentary comes from the Nepal Times. Per South Asia Revolution’s usual policy, posting here does not imply endorsement of the views presented. We will have on going series of articles and features related to the future of the Nepalese revolution. As this commentary suggests, events in Nepal are sharpening to a concentrated contradiction between the current dead-locked system, and a revolutionary transformation. Which characteristic will determine the Nepalese revolution in this period is yet to be seen.
A significant faction of the Maoist party remains committed to armed revolution
SIMON ROBINS in BARDIYA
The split within the Maoists is seen by many as a final test of their commitment to peace, and a test of the resolve and authority of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
However, this remains a metropolitan discussion, centred around the politics of the CA and trading of policies for money and position that has long defined Nepali politics. One faction of the Maoist party has already taken the discussion out of the Kathmandu back-rooms to articulate its position on a broader stage. For the last month, a Maoist cultural program, dominated by the hardline Kiran faction, has gone around the country laying out its critique of the peace process and more pointedly of both the position and integrity of the party leadership.
This program is a step above those organised during the ‘People’s War’, with a red tent, a sound system and headset microphones giving the performance the air of a tv show. The backdrop of the performance reveals its priorities: an armed PLA fighter in silhouette in front of a colourful explosion. The content has also evolved from traditional songs and dances of Nepal’s ethnic groups to a well acted, and often hilarious, drama.
The show tells the story of a Maoist CA member allied to Prachanda’s faction who now lives comfortably in Kathmandu with a new young wife, and spends his evenings in bars taking money for favours from businessmen. He has short shrift with idealistic party members from his rural district, while his constituents live in poverty, nostalgic for the ‘People’s Government’. The penultimate scene refers directly to the issue over which the Kiran faction has chosen to fight the party leadership: control of the PLA’s weapons. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Nepal Background, Nepal News | Tagged: Commentary, maoism, Nepal, peoples war, revolution | 2 Comments »