News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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[We live in a weird world. But it looks like these Maoists may turn out
to be social-democrats in practice, and that would be a (relatively)
good thing.--DC]
http://tinyurl.com/4mpqey
In Nepal: 'We are trying our best to understand democracy'
The Maoist guerrilla leader who is about to become Nepal's prime
minister faces a dilemma: how can he reconcile his ideology with the
realities of political office? Raymond Whitaker met him
Monday, 30 June 2008
It is not easy securing a meeting with the Maoist guerrilla leader
poised to become prime minister of the new republic of Nepal.
Prachanda, which means "awesome" or "the fierce one", came out of the
jungle two years ago, but his journey from insurgent commander to
mainstream politician is far from complete. As if to emphasise his
distance from the Kathmandu political establishment, which he calls
"feudal", he lives in a run-down area of the city, close to a
rubbish-strewn canal. His house, with sandbagged emplacements at each
corner, is guarded by unsmiling male and female cadres in camouflage
fatigues and caps with a red star on the peak.
The presence of these guerrillas in the heart of the capital is chilling
for Kathmandu's people. If they were able to shut out thoughts of the
Maoists' 10-year rural rebellion, in which more than 13,000 people died,
they cannot do so any longer. One of the most difficult issues in the
new Nepal with which Britain may be asked to help is how to
integrate more than 23,000 Maoist fighters into an army whose generals
refuse to have anything to do with them.
A newspaper showed the mustachioed Prachanda morphing into Stalin, with
the headline: "Same to Same". Yet emissaries from the old political
elite, foreign ambassadors and nervous businessmen have no choice but to
seek an audience with him, since his Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
won more than a third of the seats in the Constituent Assembly two
months ago. The interim prime minister, G P Koirala, whose Nepali
Congress Party was soundly defeated in April, has finally given up his
struggle to cling to some shreds of power and has resigned, clearing the
way for the 53-year-old Maoist to take over.
After prolonged negotiations through several intermediaries, including
Nepal's leading movie star, who had played an insurgent in one recent
production, I was told to be at Prachanda's house at 6.30am for one of
the few interviews he has ever given the British press. As I arrived,
the sun was just picking out the white stupa of Swayambhu, one of
Buddhism's most sacred sites, which overlooks Kathmandu. A once-over by
suspicious bodyguards and a hushed wait in a packed anteroom heightened
the sense of occasion.
In person, however, Prachanda real name Pushpa Kamal Dahal is plump
and jovial, almost twinkly. Though he had been up far into the night in
stalemated negotiations, he betrayed no sign of weariness. He commands a
movement known to have been responsible for extortion and summary
executions, but his manner is more reminiscent of the schoolteacher he
once was. And it soon emerges that his brand of Maoism would not be
recognised by the founder of Communist China, or the leaders of Peru's
****ning Path, supposedly Prachanda's inspiration.
In good English, he declares that "we are trying our best to build a new
Nepal", in which the feudal political and economic structures will be
replaced by "a more dynamic, more capitalistic, mode of production". Did
he say capitalistic? "You are surprised to hear that from the mouth of a
Maoist," he chuckles. "The main thing is that we are against feudalism,"
by which he appears to mean a political and business establishment,
working closely with the now-abolished monarchy, which was noted for a
high degree of corruption. "We have to have capitalism before we can
have socialism."
The CPN (M) is well short of a majority in the assembly ironically, it
might have won one if it had not insisted on strict pro****tional
representation and Prachanda will have to go into coalition to form a
government. But this too is part of his ideology. "We are trying our
best to understand democracy," he says. "Even in socialism, multi-party
competition is a must. I derive this conclusion from Comrade Lenin. Just
before he died, he introduced a bourgeois economic policy. If he had
lived another five years, Lenin would have introduced multi-party
competition." Even more heretically, he insists that the author of
Soviet Communism "made many mistakes". As for the ****ning Path, its way
was "too one-sided it could not mobilise the m*****".
There has always been a strong surrealist tinge to politics in the
Himalayan nation. Apart from Prachanda's Maoists, there are several
other communist parties of Nepal the United, the Unified, the
Marxist-Leninist and the Unified Marxist-Leninist or UML, the third
largest party in the assembly. It is all reminiscent of the squabbles
between the Judean People's Liberation Front and the People's Liberation
Front of Judea, but nothing unusual for a country which for centuries
was the world's only Hindu kingdom, and is now in the midst of a
transition to the world's first elected Maoist administration.
Prachanda is in earnest, however, when he argues that his government
will be a historic break with the past. For the first time, the hill
peoples and rural peasants, almost half of the country's 26 million
people, will have a voice; what he calls "the old parliamentary
parties", Congress and the UML, "don't understand the whole dynamics of
change". If the new president, vice-president and prime minister were
all from the upper castes, "I don't think it will be tolerated by the
mass of people".
Donor countries which have watched billions of dollars in aid end up in
private bank accounts might welcome cleaner government in Nepal, but the
US still has the Maoists on its list of terrorist organisations. The
previous administration sought to persuade George Bush's White House
that the insurgency was part of the international "war on terror", and
the Nepalese army received some heavy US weaponry and training before
the 2006 truce. Delhi, meanwhile, is watching anxiously to see whether
Nepal, traditionally a buffer state between India and China, will lean
towards Asia's other superpower under a Maoist leader. Among those
waiting for an audience in Prachanda's anteroom was India's ambassador
to Nepal.
Critics argue that the CPN (M) leader's talk of historic change masks a
rejection of the country's traditional instinct to seek peaceful
compromise. They say he began his revolt just when Nepal was beginning
to enjoy greater democracy and economic growth, and that the insurgency
ruined the economy and encouraged banditry. Many people voted for the
party, it is claimed, simply because they feared it might otherwise
restart the conflict. Slightly defensively, Prachanda says his party
tried to "convince the people" through peaceful means first, but
demonstrators had been killed and rural people subjected to "brutal
oppression". The Maoists had offered many times to stop fighting in
exchange for the settlement which has now been reached, he insists. But
even though the constituent assembly abolished the monarchy a few days
before our interview the last king, Gyanendra, left the royal palace in
the centre of Kathmandu and became plain Mr Shah Nepal has otherwise
been in a stalemate for the past 10 weeks.
Whether Mr Koirala's resignation breaks the deadlock remains to be seen:
Prachanda has many other opponents, not least the army, which was
commanded by the king and rejects the idea of being subject to a
politician's orders, especially such a radical politician.
Near Pokhara, Nepal's second city, I saw a white UN helicopter taking
off to monitor the Maoist guerrillas, most of whom have been in camps
since the truce, awaiting integration with the military. Britain agrees
that the present situation is "not sustainable", and says it is ready to
provide technical sup****t and guidance to reform the security sector, if
asked. Prachanda seems likely to request such assistance if he forms a
government Britain has been "directly involved" in the peace process,
he says, and could help in a "very effective way" with creating a
unified force. In his view, it could even play a role in persuading the
US to stop listing his movement as terrorists.
There has been speculation that if the Maoists came to power they would
stop Gurkhas joining the British Army, but their leader is happy to
quash it. "They should have proper jobs in Nepal rather than needing to
join foreign armies," he says. "But until that is the situation, we will
continue to allow their recruitment, though we sup****t their demands for
equal treatment with British soldiers."
It is easy to imagine Prachanda in front of a class as he expounds the
party line. "Marxism is not a sectarian or a dogmatic philosophy," he
says. "Anyone who is really scientific, who is really sincere about
Marxism, about dialectical materialism, would understand that he has to
develop his ideology according to the changed situation." This seems to
be his way of preparing his faithful for the many compromises that may
lie ahead.
The leader's aides are beginning to get restless, and there is time for
just one more question. If Mr Gyanendra Shah, the ex-king, wants to form
his own political party and enter politics, as many have speculated he
might, would the Maoists prevent him? Not at all, says Prachanda, whose
benevolence extends even to the former monarch: "If he respects the
verdict of the m*****, he can enjoy all the op****tunities open to the
common citizen."
It is not quite how the Bolsheviks dealt with the Romanovs, but Nepal
has a habit of doing things its own unique way. The country could end up
having a Maoist prime minister and a former king as leader of the
opposition. Who knows? Perhaps Gyanendra will call his political vehicle
the Communist Party of Nepal (Monarchist).
From civil war to democracy
In 1996 the bloody Nepalese civil war began, sparking fighting that went
on for 10 years which was believed to have killed at least 13,000
people. The Maoist rebels' multiple demands included land
redistribution, equal rights for women and a communist republic.
Based in Nepal's mountains and jungles, the rebel army included both
female soldiers as well as children, for which they were condemned in
2005 by the EU. A peace deal was brokered in 2006, with the rebels' arms
monitored by the UN, and Prachanda declared that it marked "the end of
the 238-year-old feudal system".
Despite the rebels' admiration for Chairman Mao, the Chinese Communist
Party had shunned the revolution, choosing to arm the Royal Nepalese
Army. Chinese officials are now more eager to forge ties with the
Maoists and Prachanda has praised China's pragmatic approach to
capitalism.
The Maoists have to convince non-sup****ters that they have transformed
from guerrilla fighters into a working, democratic party. They remain on
the US list of terrorist organisations.
Their youth wing, the Young Communist League, has been blamed for
abduction and torture. Around 19,000 ex-rebels still live in
UN-monitored camps created by Nepal's 2006 peace deal. The Maoists want
them to become part of the Nepal army but the its chief disagrees.
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord We˙rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
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News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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