In Nepal, Jimmy Carter urges arrest of opponents of elections

[Ex-US President Jimmy Carter, who has provided the stamps-of-approval on many "nation-building" elections and electoral stability--(conditions for foreign investors and for diplomatic "aid" in many countries)--is now playing an even more open role in constructing a "post-People's War" orthodoxy in Nepal, walling off non-compliant revolutionary people from the new power arrangements.  Frontlines ed.]

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Constituent Assembly polls likely in November, says Carter

PHANINDRA DAHAL, The Kathmandu Post

KATHMANDU, APR 01 – Former US president Jimmy Carter on Monday said there is general political consensus that Constituent Assembly (CA) elections are not possible in June.
Carter, who is here on a four-day visit, made the statement after holding talks with President Ram Baran Yadav, Chairman of the Interim Election Government Khil Raj Regmi, top leaders of the major parties and Election Commission officials. With election-related preparations yet to be complete, Carter said the polling date is likely to be set for November.
“I think there is general consensus, which I share, that June election will not be possible at this point,” Carter told a press conference here. “My guess, as a foreigner who is here for three-four days, is that elections will be scheduled for after the monsoon season. The third week of November would be a possible time.”
The 88-year old leader pledged that his organisation, the Carter Center, would monitor the elections, while he vowed to visit Nepal to observe the polls. Carter visited Kathmandu in April 2008 to observe the first CA elections and was recently criticised by leaders from the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML for endorsing the election as “free and fair” on the very day of polling, without making a critical assessment. Responding to the criticism, Carter said that Carter Center staff are stationed in countries months before elections to conduct ‘real’ observations. “There was certainly some intimidation by the Maoists and others, which we acknowledged in our report,” he said. “But, in general, my view was that the election adequately represented the will of the Nepali people. It was not perfect but in my judgment it was honest and fair enough to say that it was a successful election.”

Nepal: Landless peasants and Maoists (CPN-M) struggle for land, against landlord in government

[This struggle for land has been ongoing for years.  Since the abandonment of the People's War by the UCPN-M, Maoist defenders of the peasant land seizures have continued to hold and seize the lands of feudal landlords.  See the two articles on recent actions, followed by news of an earlier (2011) confrontation in Bardiya. -- Frontlines ed.]

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Baidya cadres seize Regmi land

KAMAL PANTHI , The Kathmandu Post

BARDIYA, APR 03 – Workers of the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist have captured around 6.7 hectares of land belonging to Chairman of the Interim Election Government Khil Raj Regmi in Khairichandanpur VDC-7 in the district.
Around 25 Maoist activists led by district secretary Drabya Shah announced the seizure by hoisting the party’s flags on the land on Tuesday night. They shouted anti-government slogans and demanded Regmi’s resignation. The party claimed it captured around 23 hectares of the land belonging to the Regmi family. Shah said they captured the property as per the party’s policy.
Chief District Officer Dhruba Raj Joshi said the land was registered in the name of Regmi’s wife Shanta.
Police reached the site on Wednesday morning and removed the flags from the land.

Indian Maoists’ message to Nepal Maoists CPN-Maoist — August 31, 2012

[We have recently seen this message from the CPI (Maoist) to the new CPN-Maoist party, sent in late August of last year.  The new party in Nepal has, since this statement was issued, held its Congress early in 2013 -- and while it decided not to return to the revolutionary path of Protracted People's War, there are indications that an intense struggle continues within the new party to adopt this revolutionary course.  The content of this statement reveals some of the reasons Indian Maoists appear to be hopeful as well as cautious in in their assessment of events in Nepal as of late August, 2012. -- Frontlines ed.]

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COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) — CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Hail the formation of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist

Message of CC, CPI (Maoist) to the CC, CPN -Maoist

 August 31, 2012

To Comrade Kiran, The Chairman, CPN-Maoist

The CC, CPI (Maoist) is sending its warmest revolutionary greetings to you and all the CC members and the entire rank and file of the CPN-Maoist on the formation of the new revolutionary party in Nepal after a prolonged internal ideological and political struggle against the opportunist and neo-revisionist leadership within the party who betrayed the Nepalese revolution and by demarcating and making a break with them.

Even while the Nepal Revolution reached the stage of strategic offense, the UCPN (Maoist) leadership assessed the national and international situation subjectively, took erroneous tactics which themselves led the party get bogged down in the quagmire of parliamentarianism with capitulationism uninterruptedly since end 2005. The opportunist faction that was dominant in the party rapidly went on taking modern revisionist positions including 12-point Agreement, 8-point Agreement and Comprehensive Peace Agreement etc thus betraying the cause of the Nepal people and causing enormous harm to the New Democratic Revolution. The revolutionary faction of the UCPN (Maoist) led by Comrade Kiran and other revolutionaries put up a fight against the neo-revisionist stands that harmed the interests of the Nepal oppressed masses and have split at various stages from the revisionist leadership. Our CC considers such splits resorted to by genuine revolutionaries demarcating from the neo-revisionist leadership and its erroneous right opportunist line as correct steps that would advance the revolution in Nepal and serve the interests of the oppressed classes and all oppressed social sections in Nepal.

Indian reactionaries have high hopes for Nepali revisionists, but not sure they will last

[Nepal's UCPN(M), led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai, has now consolidated their abandonment and renunciation of the Nepali revolution and People's War, in a Convention which declared their adoption of capitalism.  Recently, revolutionary activists have broken with the UCPN(M) and its capitalist road, and re-established the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, which in ITS recent re-founding meeting struggled over how to re-set the Nepali revolutionary course -- amid sharpening differences between advocates of re-starting People's War in the countryside, and those who advocate peoples revolts (protest demonstrations and, possibly, strategic urban insurrections at some time in the future).  The "people's (reform and) revolt" line prevailed over the "people's (revolutionary) war" line at the recent meeting, but the struggle between these lines continues.  The Indian reactionaries' views, reported below, are assessing the prospects of UCPN(M)'s capitalist consolidation. -- Frontlines ed.]

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India’s Nepal hands watch Maoist shift

While some say the party’s change in the political line is positive, some argue that the change could hurt the party if it fails to clean internal issues like corruption and cadres’ problems

Mahesh Acharya, ekantipur.com

NEW DELHI, February 12, 2013–The change in the UCPN (Maoist) ’s political line, adopted during the party’s seventh General Convention in Hetauda, is being observed with great interest by neighbouring India .

Describing the change as a “huge and significant shift” in the party’s principles, India ’s Nepal hands claimed that the development would “undoubtedly have a positive impact on improving the New Delhi-Maoist relationship.”

The recently concluded jamboree of the largest Nepali political force endorsed Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s political document, which envisages embracing a ‘capitalist revolution’ by abandoning its previous line of ‘people’s revolution’.

Nepal ex-Maoists declare “We will follow ‘the path of capitalism’ to achieve ‘communism’”

[Seven years after abandoning the revolutionary People's War and dismantling the emerging liberation political powers in the countryside, and ending the revolutionary challenge to feudal and semi-feudal relations, and the People's Liberation Army, the former Maoists led by Prachanda and Bhattarai are now shedding their "Maoist" cover.  A good number of purported revolutionaries who supported these revisionists soon after their abandonment of the revolutionary road--(some even called Prachanda and Bhattarai the "creative Maoists" of our time, and the leaders of 21st Century Communism)--will now be challenged to sum up their promotion of these anti-revolutionaries, and help those they may have influenced to understand how to avoid such retreats in the future.  The world of revolutionary Maoists will be watching.  We encourage our readers to comment on these developments.  Frontlines ed.] Nepal Maoists to change ideology, hint at giving up anti-India stance” Friday, Feb 1, 2013

By Shirish B Pradhan | Place: Kathmandu | Agency: PTI

In a major policy shift, Nepal’s ruling Maoists will adopt a new path to socialism through capitalism and may also give up their anti-India stance at the upcoming national convention of the party. Some 2,500 delegates of the ruling UCPN-Maoist will attend the six-day general convention, to take place after a gap of over 20 years, starting on Saturday in central Nepal’s Hetauda Municipality in an attempt to revamp the guerrilla group-turned-mainstream political party. “We will follow ‘the path of capitalism’ to achieve communism instead of pursuing ‘New Democracy’ as propounded by chairman Mao Zedong,” said Narayan Kaji Shrestha, vice-chairman of UCPN-Maoist and deputy prime minister.

The Nepalese Revolution in the Clasp of Reformism and Revisionism

[The following is a statement from the Communist Party of Turkey / Marxist Leninist on the current situation facing the international communist movement, with special attention on the effect of the Nepalese abandonment of the People's War.  It is a very timely assessment based on seriously probing issues that affect not only the Nepalese, but revolutionaries throughout the world. -- Frontlines ed.]

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Communist Party of Turkey / Marxist Leninist (TKP/ML), October 2012

Following the death of Comrade Mao Zedong, similar to the process that took place after the death of Comrade Stalin, modern revisionism seized the party and the state power, and caused serious damages to the world revolutionary front. Having suffered heavy blows in the hands of modern revisionism, the International Communist Movement (ICM), despite having benefited from a series of class war and struggle practices, including the one waged in Turkey, has not been able to stand against the ideological offensives of imperialism, which gained considerable momentum especially during the 1990s.

In the circumstances where resistance was not organized strongly enough, communist forces sustained severe injuries throughout the process. While some of them sank in their capsized ships, yet some were swept to the opposite shores. Only the few “lucky” survived, considering the survival a major success in the given circumstances. There were several exceptional development by those who came up with accurate analyses and correct policies to advance the people’s war. Even these, however, found it impossible to advance without getting caught by the storm.

The most important defeat in people’s war experiences in recent history was suffered by Gonzalo led Communist Party of Peru (CPP). Despite having shown serious advances in revolution, the CPP failed to carry its success through the final stage. Those who explain the defeat in practical and tactical matters, which led to a severe blow in the leadership, or even in political approaches, are missing the chance to see the reality. Assessments regarding the revolution and people’s war that were revealed by the leadership under the conditions of captivity point out to a drift away from the fundamental philosophical principles of MLM science.

The same situation appears to be present in the process of Nepalese revolution as well. What is even more concerning is the fact that similar dangers are reproduced in the cases of certain components of the ICM, which inevitably leads to serious negative consequences in terms of absorbing and practicing Marxist ideology. As an action guideline, the Marxist ideology must first be correctly understood as a philosophy; as a reasoning method. Based on this comprehension, it can be applied for the analysis of class struggle and transferred to political arena.

Truth must be derived from the facts but in order to achieve this one needs appropriate methods and know-hows.   The materialist character of dialectic is shaped according to the correct conception of economic, social and political laws. Marxism is not a heap of dogmas but rather a science that breaks down the codes of today’s system; it contains a set of thesis and diagnoses that are proven to be correct and valid. Thanks to its ageless essence, its power to explain the transformation, and its structure that is open to further development, its light hasn’t dimmed; its mission as a guide is still on.

Nepal: Badiya faction-led alliance announces growing challenge to ‘fascist govt’

Thursday, 12 April 2012

Revolutionaries in Nepal protest against liquidation and surrender of PLA
Revolutionaries in Nepal protesting against UCPM-M Party Headquarters’ decision to liquidate and surrender of the People’s Liberation Army

Baidhya faction spills PLA handover anger on streetsKathmandu Post, KATHMANDU, APR 11 – Miffed by the Special Committee decision to hand over the PLA cantonments, weapons and combatants to the Nepal Army, Maoist hardliners led by senior Vice Chairman Mohan Baidhya on Wednesday took to the streets all across the country against party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. The faction burnt effigies of Dahal and Bhattarai as well as took out a torch rally and staged an one-hour long chhakajam. Accusing Dahal and PM Baburam Bhattarai of betraying ‘revolution’, the hardline faction has launched protests against its own government. Hundreds of cadres close to the radical faction staged chakkajam for an hour at 10 am, bringing vehicular movement in various parts of country to a standstill. Similarly, they organised a torch rally and burnt effigies of Dahal and Bhattarai throughout the country. However, police broke up a torch rally at Ranta Park rally in the Capital, which was led by party General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa. Security personnel from the Metropolitan Police Range Hanumandhoka used force to disrupt the rally after protesters attempted to burn effigies. “Police baton-charged during our rally in an attempt to foil our protest,” said a Maoist Central Committee member close to Baidya Maheshwor Dahal. However, police said minimum force was used as the protesters who tried to violate the rules and regulations. The faction has been saying that bringing the PLA combatants and cantonments under the Army without concluding the process of integrating Maoist combatants was a surrender by the party. It has also threatened not to participate in the process of bringing the PLA fighters, cantonments and arms under the NA control. Posted on: 2012-04-12

Nepal: Bourgeois leader Koirala crows about Peruvian ex-Maoist’s call to Nepali Maoists: ‘give up the struggle for power’

[Bourgeois calls for revolutionaries to surrender often seize hold of the most tarnished and discredited tools--in this case, Abimael Guzman aka "Gonzalo" who was a founder and leader of the Communist Party of Peru until he was captured and renounced the people's war for power and for revolutionary transformation of Peru.  While some in Nepal have already taken the path of surrender, Nepali revolutionary Maoists are having nothing of it, as the struggle for revolution against revisionism continues within the UNCN(M) and, importantly, in the streets and villages. -- Frontlines ed.]

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President of the Nepali Congress (NC), Sushil Koirala, asks Maoists to renounce revolutionary program, armed struggle, and to adopt peaceful reform

After Peruvian Maoist leader Gonzalo was captured, in time he sang a different tune of surrender, and denounced the Peoples War--winning him praise from reactionaries.

Koirala urges Maoists to follow Gonzalo’s advice

by SANTOSH POKHAREL, myrepublica.com

POKHARA, Jan 7: Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala on Saturday has urged the UCPN (Maoist) to follow Peruvian revolutionary leader Gonzalo´s advice to renounce violence and adopt peaceful politics.

Speaking at a function in Pokhara, President Koirala urged the Maoists not to go against the democratic system and derail the peace process. He urged the Maoists to adopt the path of peace and constitution to bring about prosperity in the country.

“Even Peruvian revolutionary leader Gonzalo, who orchestrated the killing of about 70,000 people the guerilla war popularly known as ´Shining Path´, has asked the Maoists to adopt the path of peace. Maoists should follow the path of peace,” he said.

Gonzalo, who is currently serving a jail term, had reportedly sent a letter to the UCPN (Maoist) through his aides.

“The leader who led once of the greatest armed rebellion also acknowledged the importance of peaceful means. The Maoists should also acknowledge the fact,” he further said.

Koirala also warned that the Maoists would perish if they try to impose dictatorship in the country.

Nepal–”Party Could Split if We are Suppressed”: Gajurel

Sunsari, Sep 15: UCPN (Maoist) Secretary CP Gajurel has warned that the party might split if the establishment does not correct its course. Stating that they do not want the party to split, Gajurel said, “We are trying hard not to split the party but if the establishment tries to suppress the others it might split.”Condemning the establishment for resorting to physical violence, Gajurel said that it would not yield any positivity. “Can’t we even have a healthy debate within the party? If the establishment wants to dominate we would not keep mum,” said Gajurel.Addressing a convention of Baidya-faction at Sunsari, Gajurel also accused Prime Minister and party Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai of deviating from his ideologies after being elected as the prime minister.

Updated–Breaking News from Nepal: “Major Protests Against Disarming of People’s Army”

[Update: "We have just learned that the Prachanda and Bhattarai factions have announced that the will not step down from the moves to disarm the PLA. Not only will they hand over the keys, but they will also begin moving the countainers out of three of the cantonments. Kiran, Dev Gurung, and Biplab boycotted the meeting."]

Kathmandu, September 2

By Eric Ribellarsi, Winter has Its End

One of many blockades throughout the country. Photo by Eric Rebillarsi

Today, the Kiran faction of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has launched a major protest program against the disarming of the People’s Liberation Army being led by Nepal’s new Prime Minister, Baburam Bhattarai. The Maoist rebels are demanding the immediate reversal of the decision to disarm People’s Liberation Army, a process which has already begun.

So far, this programme has included:

1. A nation-wide one hour blockade of major roads and intersection throughout the country. We have heard this took place at roughly 50 locations in Kathmandu, including Kalanki, the main road used for entrance into Kathmandu.

2. A boycott of major party meetings, including today’s Standing Committee meeting.

3. Torchlight marches throughout Kathmandu and in other cities throughout the entire country, beginning tonight at 6:00 PM.

We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Nepal: Leader of post-people’s-war ‘bourgeois electoral’ road wins Prime Minister post

Nepal elects Maoist PM who vows to end deadlock

By Deepak Adhikari (AFP)

UCPN(M) Party Chairman Dahal with new Prime Minister Bhattarai

KATHMANDU — Senior Maoist party leader Baburam Bhattarai was elected as Nepal’s prime minister on Sunday in the latest attempt to form a stable government after extended political uncertainty.

The outgoing prime minister Jhalanath Khanal took the job only in February when the role had been vacant for seven months in a power struggle following the ten-year civil war that ended in 2006.

Bhattarai, the vice chairman of Maoist party, won the vote after securing the support of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Marcha, a loose alliance of five regional parties from the country’s southern plains.

Maoist rebels fought the central government in a bloody conflict during which 16,000 died before turning to mainstream politics and winning elections in 2008.

However they do not have enough seats to govern alone and struggled to hold together the Maoist-led government that fell in 2009.

Nepal: Maoist Struggle over Direction and Goals affects everything: “Maoist cultural wing splits”

by KIRAN PUN, http://www.myrepublica.com/

Samana Pariwar

KATHMANDU, Aug 13: The recent efforts within the UCPN (Maoist) to end the continuing intra-party feud seems to have fallen apart, with a split in the party´s top cultural group – Samana Pariwar — on Friday.

Members of Samana Pariwar close to party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal formed a separate cultural group, splitting from the group dominated by Senior Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya.

The faction of the cultural group close to Baidya was in Birtanagar for its cultural campaign “Saman Jansangeet Abhiyan” when the Dahal-faction announced a parallel group in Kathmandu.

NepalNews.com: “Bhattarai is next PM, claims Maoist leader”

[Baburam Bhattarai, a leading figure of Nepal's UCPN(M), is known as the most unabashed advocate of the abandonment of the People's War five years ago, and of a whole series of conciliatory moves toward imperialist powers and international capital.  In a visit to the United States, he even offered dropping the "Maoist" from his party's name, in exchange for business deals and investments.  Last week, the conservative Indian newspaper The Business Standard interviewed Bhattarai.  "Q: In retrospect, what are the mistakes you think you may have made? A: When we came to power, we should not have continued to act like an insurgent group."

Yesterday, NepalNews.com issued the following article, in which his supporters proclaimed Bhattarai as the next Prime Minister of Nepal because he enjoys wide support from "the international community."  Tomorrow, the UCPN(M)'s Standing Committee meets.  Perhaps further clarity will emerge. -- Frontlines ed.] 

Wed, 01.06.11 17:51

Maoist politburo member Devendra Poudel has claimed that party’s vice chairman Baburam Bhattarai will lead the upcoming ‘consensus government’.

Baburam Bhattarai (File photo)

Speaking at the Reporters’ Club Wednesday, Poudel, a Bhattarai loyalist, revealed that serious initiation has been already started within the Maoist party to form Bhattarai. The party should also field a candidate who is acceptable to all, he added.

“Over 80 percent Nepali people want to see Bhattarai as Prime Minister and he enjoys huge support of the international community,” he claimed.

Saying that the current Jhala Nath Khanal-led government can’t transform into a national consensus government, he suggested PM Khanal to pave the way for consensus by resigning as soon as possible by respecting the five-point deal.

Nepal PLA Integration with National Nepal Army: UCPN(M) formally agree to Army-proposed modality

[Maoist Revolutionaries in the UCPN(M) are questioning and challenging this week's agreement--is it more of a surrender or defeat than a successful peace move and step forward? -- Frontlines ed.]

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KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI

KATHMANDU, MAY 19 -

The UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday formally decided to accept the modality offered by Nepal Army—a separate directorate within the Army for the integration of its former combatants.

The party’s Standing Committee took the decision after its proposal for a separate or a mixed force for the combatants was rejected by the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML.  The decision comes amid growing pressure on Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal to expedite the peace process before the May 28 deadline of the Constituent Assembly.

The Standing Committee decided that the proposal to set up the Directorate of National Development and Security forwarded by Nepal Army early this year was “an appropriate” integration modality.

Dahal went ahead with his proposal with support from Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha. This left the hardliners in the party fuming.

Nepal Maoists: As peace moves sputter, revolutionaries press key issues

Internecine war: Baidya tries to corral Maoist chief Dahal

KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI

KATHMANDU, MAY 24 -
Amid intense negotiations between Nepali Congress and the Maoists, the internal party manoeuvrings of the Maoist hardliners is likely to affect their party’s position at the negotiating table. The UCPN (Maoist) faction led by Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya has begun a signature drive to put pressure on Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to stop him from conceding further ground to other parties on integration and other contentious issues in the new constitution.

Leaders close to Baidya say that they are prepared to cross the floor if the CA extension comes at ‘too high a cost’. “If Dahal offers to agree to NC’s conditions on integration to extend the CA, we will cross the floor and ultimately quit the party,” threatened a leader close to Baidya. Even leaders close to Dahal and Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai camps admit that Baidya has the support of over 85 lawmakers and a strong position within the PLA. The hardliners accuse Dahal of “selling out” and have objected to the approach on peace and constitution taken by Dahal. While Bhattarai and Dahal are busy negotiating with other parties, the hardliners are holding meetings of their cadres and rallying them against Dahal’s position. “For now, the signature campaign is aimed at demonstrating our strength in the CA and PLA,  but if he continuously ignores our concerns we will be compelled to take extreme steps, including leaving the party,” said a leader in the Baidya camp.

The hardline faction also wants see the continuity of the Khanal government, while Dahal has said he is open to an alternative if there is a broad agreement on power-sharing and other issues. The hardliners’ grouse against the party establishment is not new. During the party plenum last November, Baidya had threatened to quit the party if Dahal failed to mend his working style. The Baidya faction had registered a note of dissent when the party’s Central Committee passed the line of peace and constitution and when the Standing Committee agreed on the NA proposal on integration.