A Week With the PLA in Nepal.

[the-red-under-the-bed]

From Lal Salam Blog

http://maobadiwatch.blogspot.com/2009/03/week-with-peoples-army.html

questions comments?

[AvanteRedGarde]

I have to say, I'm pretty skeptical about this. I'm generally I have two critiques of this type of tourista solidarity.

First, how can we be sure that this actually representative of conditions inside Nepal. Could it be a consciously constructed form of PR?

Second, who is this white kid running around Nepal? What are his credentials. How do they (the UCPN) determine who to let in. What kinda of access are guests given, etc? Generally speaking (this might not apply to the UCPN as they have sold out), any revolutionary movement that opening itself up to 'revolutionary' tourism is also opening itself to spying and other counterrevolutionary interference. Like I said, this last point may not much apply to the UCPN, as they are now part of the comprador state.

Sorry to be so skeptic, but the maobadiwatch blog looks so controlled. A dumb starry keyed kid reporting back everything that is presented to him. Maybe if some reporting is done about the those who have split left or any critical reporting at all, I might actually find reading this blog worth my time.

[Saorsa]

It always amazes me how arrogant people like you are Avantgarde. You talk about how the Maoists have betrayed the revolution, how they have disarmed their military, how they have dissolved the alternative power structures, how they have handed back property seized from the feudalists during the People's War (http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=aFanata0vgqzpma0Sa1a9a.axam al&folder=aHaoamW&Name=Home&dtSiteDate=20090327), and how they were "one month" from destroying the bourgeois state but decided not to because they're evil, cowardly traitors.

Every single one of those charges is false, and all it would take is a little bit of research on Nepalese news sites to find this out. But no, because your a dogmatic, sectarian twat you take bourgeois news reports and diplomatic press releases at face value and assume that you can get an accurate grasp of the situation through that filter, without giving the UCPN (M) anything approaching the benefit of the doubt.

Your arrogance is astounding. You know better than the Maoists, who led a succesful PW for 10 years, whether or not they were militarily capable of taking Kathmandu "in a month"? You ask for Ben Peterson's credentials (obviously you havn't seen the famous scene in Reds where Bolshevik workers dismiss the need for John Reed to have such credentials - Reed being a "dumb starry keyed kid (or man) reporting back everything that is presented to him" ;)), I'm keen to see you military strategic credentials that give you the mana to make such statements.

The Maoists receive no financial backing from foreign leftist groups. They receive no weapons from them.They receive no material benefit whatsoever from maintaining the support of foreign leftist groups such as the RCP, or whatever Third Worldist cult you Monkey Smashes Heaven crowd identify with. They have no reason whatsoever to waste time, money and resources in constructing an artifical reality and a fake camp just to let Ben be fooled into thinking and reporting that all is well in the PLA. I kinda doubt that if the Maoists had disarmed (which they havnt), the UN controlling access to their guns (which they don't) would allow them to run around with them just for the purpose of this little Truman show.

If the Maoists had sold out and the PLA had been turned into a toothless tiger, they'd be beyond caring what people like Ben thought of them, and wouldn't bother trying to fool him. Frankly I doubt the Maoists care all that much about the views of foreign leftists, considering the unsupportive and often downright hostile attitude many of their supposed comrades in the RIM and outside of it have displayed towards the Nepalese revolution from the beginning. Your flattering yourself, and further displaying your arrogance, by assuming the Maoists care enough about your opinion to stage a "consciously constructed form of PR".

Ben has given the Maoists the benefit of the doubt, recognising the mana they have after the successes of the PW and the knowledge they have of the conditions on the ground over there. He's gone over there to personally investigate what's actually happening and try to get a picture of what's going on, and then share it with the world. This is a fucking cool thing to do, and he deserves praise for it. His efforts and his writings are a hell of a lot more meaningful than any sectarian, dogmatic, arrogant snipings coming from you.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=6a1Za4qdo2am8&folder=aHaoamW&Name=Home&dtSiteDate=20090322 (Recent Maoist land seizure)

[NaxalbariZindabad]

Thanks for this report! I find the articles on Lal Salam Blog to be very interesting. It's quite rare to have direct reports from a comrade in Nepal, so this blog is quite useful.

It's unfortunate that the interviews done so far "are not real great" according to Ben, but maybe there will be others worth posting in the future. It would be great to have an interview with UCPN(M) comrades about the recent developments and theirs views for the future.

Anyways, keep up the good work!

[the-red-under-the-bed]

I have to say, I'm pretty skeptical about this. I'm generally I have two critiques of this type of tourista solidarity.

First, how can we be sure that this actually representative of conditions inside Nepal. Could it be a consciously constructed form of PR?

Second, who is this white kid running around Nepal? What are his credentials. How do they (the UCPN) determine who to let in. What kinda of access are guests given, etc? Generally speaking (this might not apply to the UCPN as they have sold out), any revolutionary movement that opening itself up to 'revolutionary' tourism is also opening itself to spying and other counterrevolutionary interference. Like I said, this last point may not much apply to the UCPN, as they are now part of the comprador state.

Sorry to be so skeptic, but the maobadiwatch blog looks so controlled. A dumb starry keyed kid reporting back everything that is presented to him. Maybe if some reporting is done about the those who have split left or any critical reporting at all, I might actually find reading this blog worth my time.

wow- thats pretty intense.

Well- im that white kid- i dont really have any credentials- appart from im an activist in Australia and ive been watching Nepal for a while now and decided off my own bat that i couldnt properly understand the situation from 10,000 miles away, especially consideing there was not much english literature on the situation. SO sorry- i dont have a degree, does that mean i should give up or that the mainstream press has a better understanding?

This hasnt been a package tour of activism- a socialist kon tiki. When i got here i had a contact from facebook and an email contact who wasnt very reliable. I just turned up and statered having a look at whats going on. Igot in contact with the party- hitched a ride to a camp. IT wasnt a model camp- just happened to be that its comande was in kathmandu. And while there i had unlimited access essentialy, the only barrier was the language.

As for opening up to spying. Its not like i have unlimited access to everything. I cant just walk aruond the central offices, and i cant just strole upto Prachanda, but i can look around, and they help me when they can. And so far ti looks pretty good.

[AvanteRedGarde]

Taking everything at face value and relying on your contacts, is the leadership of the UCPN leading the way through continued class struggle towards socialism within the context of Nepali society?

Additionally, have you made any attempt to contact people who have defected from the party, either immediately after the ceasefire or from more recent splits, and who have charged the party of revisionism?

[AvanteRedGarde]

Since we're on the topic. Is the PLA patrolling with guns, or are there a few PLA with guns by the barracks and at a few UCPN posts?