Saorsa
17th June 2009, 00:28
I haven't posted anything here about Nepal in a while, and so much has happened that these brief media reports can't do justice to the rapidly changing situation there. But here's a few reports to give a taste of what's going on there atm. I plan on writing a detailed article putting forward my thoughts on what's happening since the presidential coup and the end of the Maoist-led government, I'll post it here when I'm finished. The basic line it will take is that since the Maoist's departure from government, they are taking an increasingly militant and confrontational approach.
Below is an article I wrote a week or two ago for the Spark, the Workers Party paper, briefly going into some of what's been taking place over the past wee few months and describing in particular the recent events surrounding the presidential coup.
Presidential coup in Nepal
By Alastair Reith
The last time the Spark carried news from Nepal, the story was positive. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had been elected to government with just under forty percent of the seats (more than the next two parties put together). It’s leader Prachanda was Prime Minister. Previous to this, it had waged a decade long People’s War that liberated eighty percent of the countryside and radicalised the workers and peasants of the country in support of revolutionary change. Under the slogan of a new Nepal, the Maoist-led government attempted to bring about land reform, build national industry, empower and improve the lives of workers, and fight against the domination of foreign imperialism, in particular Indian expansionism. However, this article describes events of a much less positive nature.
Over the past months, the Maoist government has been almost completely unable to advance its revolutionary programme due to the resistance of its coalition partners. At every turn, it found its progressive efforts blocked by the non-revolutionary parties it had formed a government with.
Confrontation and conflict
One of the main areas of conflict was over the question of army integration. Under the terms of the peace process the People’s Liberation Army and the Nepalese Army were to be merged with each other.
The head of the army, Army Chief of Staff General Rookmangud Katawal, refused to cooperate with this process, and continued the tradition of the army operating as a law unto itself free from civilian control. In several cases, he defied the democratically elected government. In direct violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreements, Katawal oversaw three recruitment drives to the Nepalese Army, all of which were tolerated by the courts. When the PLA carried out a similar recruitment drive in retaliation, it was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court! When the Maoist-led government refused to extend the terms of eight generals who had reached mandatory automatic retirement age, Katawal ignored the Defence Ministry’s orders and reinstated the generals anyway. Katawal also withdrew the army from the National Games, held between branches of the security forces, because of the PLA’s participation – a move obviously designed to provoke the government.
The major struggle however is over Katawal’s opposition to the integration of “politicised” PLA fighters into the regular army. He has stated bluntly that he will not allow army integration to take place.
In April the Maoist-led government formally requested Katawal to provide “clarification” over the illegal army recruitment, the extension of the general’s terms and the boycott of the National Games, as well as his generally insubordinate attitude. He chose not to reply within the 24 hours provided to him, and two weeks later the Cabinet voted to sack him. Katawal refused to accept the letter informing him of this.
Prachanda resigns
However, despite the legitimacy of this action even by capitalist legal standards, President Ram Baran Yadav used his position, which was supposed to be largely ceremonial, to override the sacking and ordered Katawal to remain in his position. President Yadav is from the opposition Nepal Congress Party, chief party of the reactionary feudalist forces in Nepal.
Outraged at this, Prachanda resigned as Prime Minister on the 4th of May, labelling Yadav’s move a “presidential coup.” Prachanda said he “will quit the government rather than remain in power by bowing down to the foreign elements and reactionary forces”. The Maoist government was over.
A new Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has been endorsed by a precarious coalition of almost every single party in parliament, but he has so far been unable to name a Cabinet due to internal conflict within this alliance.
What next for Nepal?
The Maoists have not taken these events lying down. They have pledged to wage struggle “in the parliament and in the streets”. Maoist Constituent Assembly members have staged protests in the parliament to prevent it from sitting since the presidential coup. There have been massive protests nationwide, and there are reports that Maoist cadre are taking an increasingly hostile approach to the cadre of the feudalist parties. There are also reports that the Maoists have reactivated the parallel government, People’s Committees and People’s Courts they operated during the war.
The presidential coup, the refusal of the military to submit to civilian control and the conniving of the reactionary parties all threaten to see the dream of a New Nepal die before it was ever truly realised. But the Maoists and the working masses remain committed to this goal, they remain committed to revolution, and those who attempt to prevent them from achieving this will pay the consequences.
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=5504
Nepal Maoists revive Parallel State Structure
Enraged and pretty annoyed by their disrespectful departure from the government structure, the Maoists party has begun reactivating the people’s local government and people’s court that had been dismantled by the party’s high command after the party became a part of the main-stream politics more so when it formed the government.
The Maoists Party Central Secretariat meeting of the Dharan City Committee, Sunsari District, stated on Thursday May 28, 2009, that the move was aimed at confronting the government based in Kathmandu that is formed ignoring what is called the peoples’ supremacy.
The Maoists party had constituted the parallel structure at time of the peoples’ revolt that was kept in a dormant state after the party became a part of the main-stream politics.
“The Dharan Committee meeting also assured that the party will continue to fight for restoring peoples’ supremacy and provide justice to the needed ones.”
“It is not a Peoples’ Court in the strictest sense of the term but it is yet in its embryonic stage”, said Dharan district in-charge Mr. Chotlung.
2009-05-29 09:05:42
http://telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=5597
Nepal Maoists gradually revive Parallel Government
The Maoist Party in the district of Surkhet, Bheri Zone, has revived its parallel government that was active during the period of their Peoples’ Revolt. However, after the signing of the Peace Agreement with the seven parties the party had dismantled the parallel State Structure.
The parallel structure that was known as Revolutionary People’s Council has been re-structured and renamed as “Village Government”. The Maoists Bheri-Karnali bureau secretary Mr. Khadga Bahadur Gharti declared that the Maoists’ Village Government has been revived. The Nepali Congress and UML local leaders have termed the Maoist’s fresh decision as against the spirit of the Interim Constitution and Peace Agreement.
This Maoists’ move is aimed at disrupting the peace process, said Dambar G.C local Nepali Congress leader. Earlier in the month, the Maoists’ Party had revived Revolutionary People’s Council in the district of Sunsari.
2009-06-14 08:48:29
It's unsure at this stage whether the revival of the parallel government is just in Sunsari and Surkhet districts or a nationwide thing, but either way it's very significant. The dismantling of this was perhaps the key concession made by the Maoists as part of the peace process, and it's incredibly significant that they're now reactivating it (although in most of the country it probably just went underground, and never entirely disappeared).
Maoists announce 'barren' land capture drive
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, May 27: In a politically motivated move, the peasantsī wing of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has announced a drive to capture "barren lands with absentee owners" and revive its volunteersī network that was active during the conflict period in rural areas.
"We will seize barren lands of mafias and landlords and start a commune," said Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of All Nepal Peasantsī Association (ANPA), the Maoist peasantsī wing, "Land is meant for farming, not for leaving fallow."
The organization announced the land confiscation drive a day after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal assumed his work. The Maoists have used the tactics of land seizure during the conflict. They have publicly announced they will not recognize the new government.
Shrestha, who is a Constituent Assembly member, said that the land seizure drive was required in the context of the Presidentīs move to block the dismissal of army chief Rookmangud Katawal. He said the Presidentīs move was against the aspirations of farmers and the poor.
In yet another decision announced during a function in Kathmandu on Tuesday, ANPA also announced it would restore its defunct "Volunteersī Party" network in the rural areas to take action against what it called exploiters of farmers and laborers and those involved in corruption.
One member of each household is compulsorily required to join the network that was active during the Maoist conflict in rural areas. They plan to have 2.5 million farmers as member in four months starting Thursday.
It may be recalled that the Maoists had adopted a similar strategy when they started their armed conflict in 1996, a move that had led people who disagreed with Maoist ideology to flee their villages.
"The Volunteerīs Party is necessary now to safeguard the rights of farmers in rural areas," Shrestha said to a question by myrepublica.com.
The farmersī wing further said that it would ban the import of eggs, chicken and powder milk from other countries, arguing that the countryīs agriculture sector is capable enough to supply poultry and dairy products.
"We will monitor imports of these products in every nook and corner of the border," Shrestha said.
In the meantime, ANPA has announced a four-month protest program against the government, ranging from sit-ins in front of government offices to a Valley banda in September if the rights of farmers are not ensured.
Published on 2009-05-27 00:00:01
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php
action=news_details&news_id=5535
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=199183
Maoists capture private property
Kantipur Report
KAILALI, June 14 - Activists of the Unified CPN (Maoist) once again captured about 40 hectares of land belonging to Bishwanath Uprety and five others at Chuha VDC-6 of Kailali district on Sunday.
The Maoists announced the land seizure by hoisting a party flag on the captured land. The Maoist activists had released the land they captured some nine years ago after the peace process.
Stating that Uprety had sold about half of his land to "feudals," they gave a 15-day ultimatum to five locals who had recently purchased the land. Meanwhile, Landless Farmer Struggle Committee Bara captured about 11 hectares land at Sukhi Pathara and Khopawa of Bara district on Saturday.
The committee said it distributed the seized land to 116 landless people.
Posted on: 2009-06-14 08:39:45 (Server Time)
Oh, and despite the many attacks on the Maoists months ago over the no-strike policy they put forward for a time (a policy that never was enforced in any real way except to try and halt strikes being called by reactionary political parties against the government - strikes by Maoist-affiliated trade unions and by workers in general continued), Nepal is currently being rocked by wave after wave of political strikes in support of the Maoists and in opposition to the presidential coup. There are plenty of news reports available about this if people feel the need to look it up...
Below is an article I wrote a week or two ago for the Spark, the Workers Party paper, briefly going into some of what's been taking place over the past wee few months and describing in particular the recent events surrounding the presidential coup.
Presidential coup in Nepal
By Alastair Reith
The last time the Spark carried news from Nepal, the story was positive. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had been elected to government with just under forty percent of the seats (more than the next two parties put together). It’s leader Prachanda was Prime Minister. Previous to this, it had waged a decade long People’s War that liberated eighty percent of the countryside and radicalised the workers and peasants of the country in support of revolutionary change. Under the slogan of a new Nepal, the Maoist-led government attempted to bring about land reform, build national industry, empower and improve the lives of workers, and fight against the domination of foreign imperialism, in particular Indian expansionism. However, this article describes events of a much less positive nature.
Over the past months, the Maoist government has been almost completely unable to advance its revolutionary programme due to the resistance of its coalition partners. At every turn, it found its progressive efforts blocked by the non-revolutionary parties it had formed a government with.
Confrontation and conflict
One of the main areas of conflict was over the question of army integration. Under the terms of the peace process the People’s Liberation Army and the Nepalese Army were to be merged with each other.
The head of the army, Army Chief of Staff General Rookmangud Katawal, refused to cooperate with this process, and continued the tradition of the army operating as a law unto itself free from civilian control. In several cases, he defied the democratically elected government. In direct violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreements, Katawal oversaw three recruitment drives to the Nepalese Army, all of which were tolerated by the courts. When the PLA carried out a similar recruitment drive in retaliation, it was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court! When the Maoist-led government refused to extend the terms of eight generals who had reached mandatory automatic retirement age, Katawal ignored the Defence Ministry’s orders and reinstated the generals anyway. Katawal also withdrew the army from the National Games, held between branches of the security forces, because of the PLA’s participation – a move obviously designed to provoke the government.
The major struggle however is over Katawal’s opposition to the integration of “politicised” PLA fighters into the regular army. He has stated bluntly that he will not allow army integration to take place.
In April the Maoist-led government formally requested Katawal to provide “clarification” over the illegal army recruitment, the extension of the general’s terms and the boycott of the National Games, as well as his generally insubordinate attitude. He chose not to reply within the 24 hours provided to him, and two weeks later the Cabinet voted to sack him. Katawal refused to accept the letter informing him of this.
Prachanda resigns
However, despite the legitimacy of this action even by capitalist legal standards, President Ram Baran Yadav used his position, which was supposed to be largely ceremonial, to override the sacking and ordered Katawal to remain in his position. President Yadav is from the opposition Nepal Congress Party, chief party of the reactionary feudalist forces in Nepal.
Outraged at this, Prachanda resigned as Prime Minister on the 4th of May, labelling Yadav’s move a “presidential coup.” Prachanda said he “will quit the government rather than remain in power by bowing down to the foreign elements and reactionary forces”. The Maoist government was over.
A new Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has been endorsed by a precarious coalition of almost every single party in parliament, but he has so far been unable to name a Cabinet due to internal conflict within this alliance.
What next for Nepal?
The Maoists have not taken these events lying down. They have pledged to wage struggle “in the parliament and in the streets”. Maoist Constituent Assembly members have staged protests in the parliament to prevent it from sitting since the presidential coup. There have been massive protests nationwide, and there are reports that Maoist cadre are taking an increasingly hostile approach to the cadre of the feudalist parties. There are also reports that the Maoists have reactivated the parallel government, People’s Committees and People’s Courts they operated during the war.
The presidential coup, the refusal of the military to submit to civilian control and the conniving of the reactionary parties all threaten to see the dream of a New Nepal die before it was ever truly realised. But the Maoists and the working masses remain committed to this goal, they remain committed to revolution, and those who attempt to prevent them from achieving this will pay the consequences.
http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=5504
Nepal Maoists revive Parallel State Structure
Enraged and pretty annoyed by their disrespectful departure from the government structure, the Maoists party has begun reactivating the people’s local government and people’s court that had been dismantled by the party’s high command after the party became a part of the main-stream politics more so when it formed the government.
The Maoists Party Central Secretariat meeting of the Dharan City Committee, Sunsari District, stated on Thursday May 28, 2009, that the move was aimed at confronting the government based in Kathmandu that is formed ignoring what is called the peoples’ supremacy.
The Maoists party had constituted the parallel structure at time of the peoples’ revolt that was kept in a dormant state after the party became a part of the main-stream politics.
“The Dharan Committee meeting also assured that the party will continue to fight for restoring peoples’ supremacy and provide justice to the needed ones.”
“It is not a Peoples’ Court in the strictest sense of the term but it is yet in its embryonic stage”, said Dharan district in-charge Mr. Chotlung.
2009-05-29 09:05:42
http://telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=5597
Nepal Maoists gradually revive Parallel Government
The Maoist Party in the district of Surkhet, Bheri Zone, has revived its parallel government that was active during the period of their Peoples’ Revolt. However, after the signing of the Peace Agreement with the seven parties the party had dismantled the parallel State Structure.
The parallel structure that was known as Revolutionary People’s Council has been re-structured and renamed as “Village Government”. The Maoists Bheri-Karnali bureau secretary Mr. Khadga Bahadur Gharti declared that the Maoists’ Village Government has been revived. The Nepali Congress and UML local leaders have termed the Maoist’s fresh decision as against the spirit of the Interim Constitution and Peace Agreement.
This Maoists’ move is aimed at disrupting the peace process, said Dambar G.C local Nepali Congress leader. Earlier in the month, the Maoists’ Party had revived Revolutionary People’s Council in the district of Sunsari.
2009-06-14 08:48:29
It's unsure at this stage whether the revival of the parallel government is just in Sunsari and Surkhet districts or a nationwide thing, but either way it's very significant. The dismantling of this was perhaps the key concession made by the Maoists as part of the peace process, and it's incredibly significant that they're now reactivating it (although in most of the country it probably just went underground, and never entirely disappeared).
Maoists announce 'barren' land capture drive
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, May 27: In a politically motivated move, the peasantsī wing of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has announced a drive to capture "barren lands with absentee owners" and revive its volunteersī network that was active during the conflict period in rural areas.
"We will seize barren lands of mafias and landlords and start a commune," said Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, chairman of All Nepal Peasantsī Association (ANPA), the Maoist peasantsī wing, "Land is meant for farming, not for leaving fallow."
The organization announced the land confiscation drive a day after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal assumed his work. The Maoists have used the tactics of land seizure during the conflict. They have publicly announced they will not recognize the new government.
Shrestha, who is a Constituent Assembly member, said that the land seizure drive was required in the context of the Presidentīs move to block the dismissal of army chief Rookmangud Katawal. He said the Presidentīs move was against the aspirations of farmers and the poor.
In yet another decision announced during a function in Kathmandu on Tuesday, ANPA also announced it would restore its defunct "Volunteersī Party" network in the rural areas to take action against what it called exploiters of farmers and laborers and those involved in corruption.
One member of each household is compulsorily required to join the network that was active during the Maoist conflict in rural areas. They plan to have 2.5 million farmers as member in four months starting Thursday.
It may be recalled that the Maoists had adopted a similar strategy when they started their armed conflict in 1996, a move that had led people who disagreed with Maoist ideology to flee their villages.
"The Volunteerīs Party is necessary now to safeguard the rights of farmers in rural areas," Shrestha said to a question by myrepublica.com.
The farmersī wing further said that it would ban the import of eggs, chicken and powder milk from other countries, arguing that the countryīs agriculture sector is capable enough to supply poultry and dairy products.
"We will monitor imports of these products in every nook and corner of the border," Shrestha said.
In the meantime, ANPA has announced a four-month protest program against the government, ranging from sit-ins in front of government offices to a Valley banda in September if the rights of farmers are not ensured.
Published on 2009-05-27 00:00:01
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php
action=news_details&news_id=5535
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=199183
Maoists capture private property
Kantipur Report
KAILALI, June 14 - Activists of the Unified CPN (Maoist) once again captured about 40 hectares of land belonging to Bishwanath Uprety and five others at Chuha VDC-6 of Kailali district on Sunday.
The Maoists announced the land seizure by hoisting a party flag on the captured land. The Maoist activists had released the land they captured some nine years ago after the peace process.
Stating that Uprety had sold about half of his land to "feudals," they gave a 15-day ultimatum to five locals who had recently purchased the land. Meanwhile, Landless Farmer Struggle Committee Bara captured about 11 hectares land at Sukhi Pathara and Khopawa of Bara district on Saturday.
The committee said it distributed the seized land to 116 landless people.
Posted on: 2009-06-14 08:39:45 (Server Time)
Oh, and despite the many attacks on the Maoists months ago over the no-strike policy they put forward for a time (a policy that never was enforced in any real way except to try and halt strikes being called by reactionary political parties against the government - strikes by Maoist-affiliated trade unions and by workers in general continued), Nepal is currently being rocked by wave after wave of political strikes in support of the Maoists and in opposition to the presidential coup. There are plenty of news reports available about this if people feel the need to look it up...