People’s
Movement In Nepal
By Roshan Kissoon
23 January, 2007
Countercurrents.org
I spent my 29th birthday at a
Maoist camp and hospital in the Rolpa district of Nepal. I celebrated
my birthday with the doctors and nurses of the hospital, with the PLA
or the People’s Liberation Army, and with the other members of
The International Road Building Brigade - who had come from many countries
to see the revolution in Nepal and help in building Shahid Marg, or
the Martyr’s Road. Our group had met in Kathmandu and we went
to Gorai and from Gorai to Tila Bazaar by bus. After Tila Bazaar, there
are neither roads nor any kind of transport, and we had to trek through
the jungles, up and down the mountains, and over the rivers and streams
of the Rolpa countryside. We could not have made the trip without the
help of the PLA; they looked after us; helped us through the difficult
terrain; sometimes cooked for us; on one occasion built bridges for
us; always with good humour and great friendliness.
The Maoist run hospital,
called the New Model Hospital, is in Goorneti. We came to the hospital
in November, and the hospital had been open for three months. Work had
begun on the hospital in 2005. After work started on the hospital, the
RNA or Royal Nepalese Army tried to disrupt the work. The first time,
they came on foot. They PLA set an ambush. The second time, they came
by air, on helicopters and tried to bomb the hospital. Four PLA members
died, but the action of trying to bomb a hospital totally disgraced
the RNA and the King in the eyes of the villagers. Work on the hospital
carried on during the war period. It was just after the bombing that
the First International Road Building Brigade came to Goorneti. It was
a big morale boost for the villagers and the Maoists.
The hospital has already
treated about 30,000 people. The Nepali royalty in 280 years had never
thought of building a hospital here. In this remote area of Nepal, there
have never been hospitals or any kind of modern medicine. The local
people relied on traditional medicine or witchcraft. The Maoists started
work on the hospital with the help of some local villages. At first,
some villages helped in the building of the hospital, while some other
villages did not. After some time, all the local villages saw the importance
of the hospital for their own lives and sent people to help. Some 20,000
villagers helped to build the New Model Hospital. There was still work
going on in the hospital when we arrived, work on some houses for patients
and visitors. We helped in the work, alongside the villagers and the
PLA. They were happy to see us and we sang songs and joked during work.
We asked about the type of houses that they were building. They told
us that they were a traditional form of house, using local materials
and technology. It is common for families to help in the building of
the family house. Here the scale was bigger, but the same principle
applied. The local people are building for local people, for themselves,
their neighbours, their friends and their families. We in the International
Road Building Brigade were very happy to be here, and they were happy
to see us. We saw that people did not need coercion to work, and that
people can work together for the benefit of their own society happily,
without competition.
The famous ‘barefoot
doctors’ run the New Model Hospital. The idea of the ‘barefoot
doctor’ came from the experience of the Great Chinese Revolution.
A ‘barefoot doctor’ is a doctor that goes out with the PLA
but also treats local people in remote areas. In Nepal, the ‘barefoot
doctors’ often had to perform operations for the first time during
a battle itself, using only medical textbooks. They learnt their skills
on the job, and are very good doctors. They teach people about basic
hygiene; they teach people to think about health in scientific terms
and not to rely on superstitions. They would often go out to remote
villages and give classes on health. They discourage smoking, drug use,
and drinking by educating people about these things. They also teach
the villagers about reproduction and birth control; they can perform
abortions if necessary.
We spoke to some of the doctors
and nurses at the hospital. Most had worked previously for Government
hospitals, but they much preferred the New Model Hospital. Dr S Sharma
told us that at Government hospitals, they were not encouraged to think
but only to copy. The Government hospitals only treated the wealthy;
the poor and low castes do not receive any treatment. Here treatment
was for everybody. Everything is free, the appointment, the check up,
and the medicine. Doctors are encouraged to think creatively and to
take part in the life of the local community.
The hospital does not have
all the medicine and medical equipment it requires, but is hoping to
get bigger and increase the services it can provide. It all depends
on the political future. We spoke to a young nurse of 21, Sushma, who
had left her middle class Kathmandu home to come here, to this remote
and isolated part of Nepal, to work at the hospital. The revolution
had changed her and inspired her to come here - to Goorneti - to work.
The doctors and nurses in the hospital are not working for money or
for social status; they feel they can only fulfil their duty as doctors
by working with the people, working with the Maoists. What astonished
me, particularly after spending a long time in India, was the complete
absence of casteism at the hospital; the casteism that blights all of
South Asia, where so-called ‘untouchables’ are not even
allowed into hospitals and often refused treatment. Dr Sharma also gave
our group some advice. She told us that we should cut down on smoking
and brush our teeth more often.
We also took part in a Maoist
wedding ceremony. Two PLA comrades were getting married. The ceremony
was simple. There is a statement by the bride and groom before everyone
that they have known each other for a while, and that they are marrying
of their own will. The man has to be at least 22 years of age, and the
woman at least 20 years. The commander married them officially, and
then he gave a speech, as did some of their friends and comrades –
one of our International Brigade members also gave a speech. There was
also some dancing – we also danced. The importance of this new
wedding ceremony is that it overturns the traditional South Asian marriage
system. The new Maoist wedding ceremony challenges the old practices
of arranged marriage, child marriage, polygamy, and the giving of dowries.
This is truly a great leap, especially if one considers that the tradition
of giving dowries is a cause for the infanticide of young female children
in many parts of South Asia. Furthermore, throughout much of South Asia,
women who do not marry the man that their parents choose are often beaten
and thrown out of their own families. If the woman’s family cannot
provide a sufficient dowry to the husband, then the in-laws often beat
the new bride. These kinds of problems exist even among South Asian
communities in Britain. With the coming of the Maoists, these old feudalistic
practices are finished. Commander Prabhakaran tells us that this is
not the final form of the wedding ceremony. “The ceremony is simple
because of the war”, he says, “It may change in the future.”
The PLA are divided into
sections, each of which contain seven to thirteen people; three sections
make up a platoon; three platoons a company; three companies a battalion;
three battalions a brigade; and three brigades a division. At present,
there are seven divisions. Men and Women fight alongside each other
in the same sections, and there are both male and female commanders.
The present composition of the PLA is about 60% male and 40% female.
The Maoists are aiming at a 50% male/female army. All the many different
ethnic groups of Nepal are in the PLA. Each company of the PLA has a
political commissar. The commissar conducts training, does organisational
work, and teaches the PLA soldiers about Maoist ideology. The Central
Peoples Military Academy looks after and trains each division, and the
supreme commander of the PLA is Comrade Prachanda, the Chairman of the
Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist, or CPN-Maoist.
We had a chance to talk with
some PLA commanders at the New Model Hospital. A British comrade asks
them what they think about Nepali soldiers, or Gurkhas, fighting for
British and other foreign armies. Commander Prabhakaran replies that
they would like to stop this practice completely: “Nepali soldiers
should not fight for the British or any other foreign armies. After
all, the only reason that Nepali Gurkhas fight for the British is simply
that they are poor. Nepalese have no interest in fighting for British
Imperialism.” Nepali Gurkhas have been fighting in the British
army since 1860. If the Maoists take power, then this old and cruel
tradition will end.
The PLA commanders get their
revolutionary line from the party - to conduct People’s War. They
say they “learn warfare through warfare’, and that ‘necessity
is the mother of invention”. They see the experiences of previous
revolutions, such as the Great Russian and Chinese Revolutions as experiences
they can learn from, to aid them in their struggle against all reactionary
forces. As Bimal, a Battalion vice-commander says, “When people
want to get rid of war, plunder, and oppression, they spontaneously
rebel”. We saw for ourselves the difference the People’s
War has already made. When the PLA are not fighting, they return to
their villagers and work or teach. The PLA are extremely friendly. We
had a game of volleyball with the PLA at the New Model Hospital, and
we lost.
If the Maoists take power,
they would dissolve the RNA and merge it into a national army. They
explain that there is no personal animosity between the PLA and the
RNA soldiers. The PLA soldiers realise that the RNA soldiers are also
poor people. Commander Prabhkaran told us that: “Many RNA soldiers,
if they have some education, would happily join the PLA”. The
Maoists also realise that Nepal, between the nuclear superpowers of
India and China, do not need a large army. They plan to have a highly
trained Special Security Force Brigade, but to reduce the size of the
army overall. They say that many of the PLA will go to the villages
to teach and train the villagers. This is for two reasons. Firstly,
in order to fight Imperialism and Indian expansionism, the people need
to be armed. Secondly, as the Nepali Maoists have studied the previous
revolutions very carefully, they realise that after they take power,
there is also a danger of revisionists arising in the party itself,
and a centralised party with a large army can easily betray and turn
on the masses. To prevent this, the people need to arm themselves. Mao
says, “Without a people’s army, the people are nothing”.
We left the New Model Hospital
at Goorneti to go to Tawang, the Maoist capital. It was a long trek,
and we arrived after three days. The majority of people in Tawang and
much of the Rolpa district are Magars. Nepalese society classifies itself
into two main groups, which divide into more groups, clans, and castes.
These two divisions are ‘Aryan’ and ‘Mongolian’.
‘Aryan’ refers to those whose ancestors came from India,
while ‘Mongolian’ refers to those whose ancestors came from
Central Asia. The Magar are a ‘Mongolian’ people, and are
traditionally neither Hindu nor Buddhist. Their traditional religious
practices are similar to Shamanistic practices found in Central Asia,
and these practices still exist in some places. When we spoke to the
local Maoist leaders, they told us that traditional Magar society and
Magar values are very different from the Hindu culture that dominates
in Kathmandu valley. They stressed that in traditional Magar society,
both men and women worked in the fields, that there was no money and
they shared the produce of the fields. Traditional Magar village society
was communistic, and this had remained as a memory of the Magar people.
Hinduism came to the Magar
with the rise of the Kathmandu monarchy some 280 years ago. Hinduism
incorporated traditional Magar practices; men and women started doing
different kinds of work. Women then worked inside and men worked outside,
and the Hindu caste system came to these ‘Mongolian’ Magars.
About 5% of the Magar came to be designated as ‘untouchables’;
separate wells for high and low castes were made in the village; an
‘untouchable’ could not enter into the house of a high caste
Brahmin; and the Hindu system of arranged marriage - designed to maintain
the purity of each caste, made its unwelcome appearance. Tawang was
too far and too remote from Kathmandu for Hinduism to dominate completely.
Magar traditions and stories could remember a time before the caste
system, before the coming of money, and before the rule of the King…
Panchayats rule Nepal, like
much of India. A Panchayat is a local village council made up of rich
high caste men who make the decisions for the whole village. In Nepal,
they are loyal to the King. The King is considered an incarnation of
the supreme god Vishnu, and his photo is in Hindu temples. Maoism in
Tawang has its origins in the village feudal struggle against the Panchayat
system. The Kathmandu government used to encourage struggle between
different communities, between the ‘Aryan’ and the ‘Mongolian’
communities in the Panchayat, and between the different castes. There
was struggle between pro and anti Panchayat elements, and in response
to the Panchayats, the Maoists organised committees…
The Maoist leaders in Tawang
told us about their history, and the events that have led to the present.
In 1956, the old King dies, and King Mahindra comes to power. Six local
parties organise to form the NCP, or Nepali Communist Party. There are
elections in 1959, but as a response to these elections, there is a
Royal coup in 1960, with the Panchayats declaring allegiance to the
King. Most villagers are unhappy with this, and there is a period of
intense class struggle from about 1963 to 1973. The NCP formed many
different societies and committees, such as student’s organisations,
women’s organisations, Dalit organisations, teacher’s organisations
etc. The Maoists work with people who are ignorant of politics, people
excluded by the Panchayats, and people oppressed by poverty. All sections
of society join the Maoists at this period.
There is a new moment in
1979 when, in Pakistan, General Zia Al Huq executes Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
with US approval – a sham trial and a quick execution bearing
a family resemblance to the recent execution of Saddam Hussein. Nepali
students protest against this and this leads them to criticise their
own King. During the Dasein festival in 1981, the Maoists beat the Royalists
in the local elections, and the CID and the RNA come to Tawang to punish
the local people. In response, local people begin arming themselves.
In 1989, the people rise
up; the government introduces the parliamentary system into Nepal, and
they hold general elections. The Nepali Congress Party wins the election,
but local people dispute the result. The Congress Government keeps saying
they can control the Maoists, but they cannot do so. The NCP People’s
Front wins nine seats in the parliament. The government send the police
and CID once more to punish the local people for supporting the Maoists.
In 1994, the NCP merge with CPN-Maoist led by Comrade Prachanda. All
over Nepal, people are sick of the Congress party, its lies about the
Maoists, and its persecution of poor people. Support across the country
grows for CPN-UML or Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist
Leninist. They win the election and form a government.
The CPN-UML are a revisionist
party and they are similar to other revisionist and reformist parties
around the world – communist by name; capitalist by deed. After
they form the government in 1994, the CPN-UML together with the Congress
party tries to suppress the Maoists, but the Maoists come back even
stronger. Most people in Nepal usually refer to the CPN-UML simply as
‘UML’. Many people do not realise that they are supposed
to be a ‘Communist’ party. The Maoists form the PLA and
they expel the RNA from Tawang, forever. A district committee leader
Dawal proudly boasts: “Tawang will always be Maoist”.
In Tawang, we meet Bhashanti
Magar, the Chief Secretary of the Magrat Autonomous Region. He tells
us that there is a problem with the different nationalities and castes
in Nepal, and the system of autonomous regions tries to deal with these
problems. The struggle against feudalism and monarchy is a multi ethnic
struggle; people from all the different groups support the Maoists.
The structure of the Magrat Autonomous Republic is that there is one
President and Vice President, a ministerial council and law courts.
There are sixteen ministers, and one chief secretary. There are nine
autonomous regions; three are based on geographical areas, and six based
on nationalities or ethnicities. These autonomous regions are designed
to deal with the differences between the difference castes and nations,
and ultimately to end feudalism and establish a People’s government.
According to Bhashanti Magar,
the peace talks have increased support for the Maoists, and they are
working with the seven parties to end the monarchy. The US is trying
to disrupt this, and the Maoists know that the US is behind the seven
parties; ‘When we talk to the seven parties, we are talking with
the US.” Apart from the USA, all the neighbouring countries have
accepted the Maoists as legitimate. He tells us that the US wants an
army base in Nepal, in their plan to ‘contain’ China. The
Maoists will not allow this, of course. The Maoists do not trust US
Imperialism, Indian expansionism, or corrupt Nepali parliamentarians.
While in Tawang, we also
went to the nearby ‘New Model School’. On arrival, the children
greet us by singing Communist and Maoist songs, including the Internationale
in Nepali. We are very impressed. The full name of the school is the
‘Martyr’s Memorial Democratic Model School’; it was
established in 2004. The children are between the ages of 6 to 15, and
there are 53 male students, and 34 female students. About 50 of the
students stay in a hostel in the school, and the rest live nearby. Most
of the children who stay in the hostel are the children of PLA soldiers
who died fighting the RNA. There are four teachers, two men and two
women, and there are a further thirteen people who manage and look after
the school. They teach five main subjects: Maths, Science, Art, Social
Science - including philosophy - and Language. The children learn Nepali
as well as the local Magar language, and they try to teach a little
English. There are six hours of school everyday. During the winter,
the school closes for a month or so due to the heavy snowfall; there
are no holidays as such.
All of the teachers at the
school taught previously at Government schools. The principal K. Bahadur
was formerly a principal at a government school for 25 years. All of
the teachers are members of ANTO, or All Nepal Teachers Organisation,
an organisation of revolutionary teachers. It was set up 22 years ago
as an organisation against the Panchayats. We asked the teachers to
tell us the difference between a government school and the New Model
School. Anita Desai, a teacher of Maths and Science, told us that: “In
the government schools they teach things which are useless, such as
the history of the Kings of Nepal. There is a photo of the King and
the children have to pray to the photo. They teach mythology as history,
and the teaching has no relevance to the lives of the children. Furthermore,
only the children of the rich can go to school, the children of the
poor often do not go, and if they do go to a government school, the
teachers do not respect them. In the government schools, there is only
parrot learning, there is no creativity.”
It is different at the New
Model School. The school is free, the Magrat Autonomous Republic provides
all the money, and the teachers are here voluntarily. Like the barefoot
doctors, the teachers who work at this school feel they can only fulfil
their duty as teachers by working with the people, working with the
Maoists. Another teacher, Rita Giri, told us that here the children
and the teachers are encouraged to be creative. The school consults
and interacts with the local people. Even the teachers feel they are
learning. In government schools, only Nepali is taught and not any local
languages. Here, even the teachers are learning Magar, and from the
children. Madan, the art and literature teacher, told us that even the
teachers at the government schools like the New Model School and would
like to teach here, but they are afraid of the RNA.
We visit a classroom and
the children greet us once more. There are three classes, divided only
by the age of the children; sometimes the older children will teach
the younger ones. We ask the children what they would like to do when
they grow up. A few answer they would like to become teachers, others
to become doctors, some journalists, and writers, while others would
like to join the PLA. The majority would like to become artists, however.
They also ask us some questions: “What do people in your country
think about the People’s War in Nepal?”; “Is there
a King in your country?”; “Why don’t the Americans
like us?” and “Why did planes crash into buildings in New
York?” We answer that people in our countries know nothing at
all about the People’s War because they are kept ignorant by the
media and education system; the American people are alright, but the
American Government don’t like you because they do not like people
that they do not control; and the British have a Queen.
Madan is trying to teach
the children a little English. The ABC is taught in a novel and interesting
way. C is for capitalism, D is for Darwin, I for Imperialism, K is for
Karl Marx, L is for Lenin, and M is for Mao. Furthermore, Madan tells
us that he would like to teach more science, more about Newton, Kepler,
Einstein, and about Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, there
is a lack of materials and equipment. They want to teach using a mixture
of hi-tech equipment like computers and televisions, as well as using
methods that are more traditional. There are plans to build another
30 such schools in the base area. However, as with the hospital, it
all depends on the political future of Nepal. The children are encouraged
to think in a rational and scientific manner, to question old beliefs,
and to criticise. They do not teach religious doctrine at the school,
and unlike schools in the US, the teachers want to teach about Darwin
and evolution. The future will be different.
Further up from the New Model
School is a commune that runs on Communist principles. It resembles
any other village, but is organised quite differently from an ordinary
village. The name of the commune is Ajambari or the Immortal commune.
At the beginning, there were six families at the commune, now there
are thirty-two families. The members of the commune are mostly party
members and their families, the families of PLA soldiers, and the families
of martyrs killed fighting the RNA. There are two units in the commune,
and there are 19 people in these two units. These units are composed
of people from the farmer’s movement, from the student’s
movement, the women’s movement, and the children’s movement.
The commune tries to live a social life without the caste and class
divisions that are present in ordinary Nepali and South Asian villages.
The commune has a labour department, an economic department, a health
department, an education department, and a childcare department. There
are no personal items in the commune. The commune chooses the leaders
based on inclination and ability. There are nine children below the
age of five in the commune. Two women usually look after the children,
but sometimes men also look after the children. Those above five years
of age go to the nearby New Model School. There is a hotel and a shop
in the commune. Food is cooked and eaten communally, and everyone eats
at the same place. There are thirty-two houses in the commune.
The commune divides labour
equally amongst all, and there is rotation of activities. People have
the chance to develop different abilities in diverse fields, from agriculture
to drama. Rotation takes place when someone gets tired of doing one
thing and wants to do another type of activity. The main economic production
is agriculture, and there is a hotel and shop in the commune. The profits
go into developing the commune. Comrade Prathak says that they would
like to develop the commune further. They have a growing population
and want to increase agricultural production. They also want to develop
electric power, and increase their education and childcare departments.
Who decides who can become
a commune member? Many people in the villages like the commune and want
to stay there. A further 54 people want to join the commune. Comrade
Prathak tells us that the first step is to become a general member of
the commune. The general member supports the commune but does not live
in the commune. The general member accepts the discipline of the commune:
He or She does not have private property and accepts the culture of
the commune. There is no set period that person may join the commune,
it depends on their ideology and thought. If a person works and accepts
the ideology and principles of Maoism, he or she may join the commune.
All the families in the commune take the decision whether to accept
a new member.
What if there is a problem
in the commune? The commune solves problems autonomously, by rational
discussion and thinking, and applying the insights of Maoism, such as
criticising old ideas etc. Not all the families in the commune are at
the same level of ideological development; that is, there are still
problems with sexism, casteism, etc. These problems are only small problems,
Comrade Prathak tells us, as living in the commune is a process of development
and experimentation. When the Maoists criticise traditional ideas and
practices, there arises a new problem – the problem of how to
do things better. For example, a French comrade who stayed for a few
days in the commune told us that many commune members asked him about
whether it is better to bury the dead or to cremate the dead. They were
interested in this question as they were really trying to decide what
is better for their environment, for their community, and for their
future – cremation or burial. Everything is being questioned,
all aspects of life. There are cultural events twice a month, such as
dancing, drama, and music. There are holidays on Martyrs day, and on
the birthdays’ of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao.
An interesting thing about
this commune, and other similar projects such as a fish commune we saw
before reaching Tila Bazaar, is the emphasis on rationality and scientific
understanding in trying to solve everyday problems. At the Tawang commune,
they wanted to bring electricity to the commune by developing things
like solar panels and hydropower. At the fish commune, the Maoists had
built a large pond to breed small river fish. River fish in Nepal can
be very scarce, and it is not usually possible to get enough fish for
a whole village. Here, through trying to understand and change their
environment, the Maoists developed a system of breeding fish that supplied
enough fish for the whole village. Furthermore, the fish commune is
something that is simple enough to make, yet very useful to the people
and friendly to the environment. It was in these areas that we had suggestions
for them. For example, erosion is a big problem in paths and roads in
Nepal. One comrade suggested using certain kinds of nets made of herbs
and plants to prevent erosion on roads. We noticed also that many people
had bad lungs, and this was probably because houses have no chimneys.
So we suggested that they should build chimneys, and to teach people
how to build these chimneys. Yet another comrade, who has worked in
European music festivals, had ideas about developing a certain type
of environmentally friendly outdoor toilets. We suggested education
on how to get rid of rubbish that is not biodegradable, such as batteries
and plastic containers. We proposed that there should be more dustbins.
Furthermore, plastics should be banned. This is the kind of ‘training
and assistance’ that the International Road Building Brigade can
provide – environmentally friendly toilets etc – to the
Maoists and the people of Nepal.
We left Tawang for a long
trek back to Tila Bazaar. The Maoists are directing the building of
a road through the Rolpa district, connecting Tawang with Tila Bazaar.
This is the road we came to help build. Thousands of villagers had come
from all over the Rolpa District to work on the road. They are not working
for the Maoists – they are working for themselves. In Tawang,
we saw a young man discuss and convince people that they should work
on this road. We saw him again at Shahid Marg. He had managed to convince
some 30 people to come with him to help in the work.
We worked with the PLA and the villagers on the road. The work we did
consisted of passing bricks and stones to clear a path, as well as some
shovelling and digging. The work was at a comfortable pace, and there
were frequent breaks for anyone who wanted to drink water or tea, or
smoke beedies or cigarettes. Men and women worked side by side, but
in separate lines. Young and old worked together to their ability. The
PLA directed the road building, and worked alongside the villagers.
We noticed also that the PLA were interested in suggestions from people
working on the road; if there was a better way to do a particular job
then they would try it; if a worker on the road has a particular skill
then he or she could share their knowledge. We also went to see some
further parts of the road; over two thousand villagers came to greet
us. Most of these villagers were not Maoist activists, but ordinary
village folk, grandfathers smoking their chillums of local tobacco during
breaks, women with children on their backs etc. We wanted to talk to
them, and they wanted to talk to us. They wanted to know what it was
like in our countries, what people in our countries thought about Nepal,
and why we had come here to help build Shahid Marg.
In Tila Bazaar, we meet Mangal
Biswakarma, the Superintendent of Goorneti hospital and a Maoist representative
in the parliament. We discuss with him about their plans after taking
power. He speaks confidently and clearly about their plans to build
roads linking up the country from East to West, to connect remote villages
and communities with the rest of Nepal. He tells us that they would
like to increase their co-operative system of farming, to develop more
things like the fish communes. The Nepali economy is primarily agricultural,
but is not well developed. They would like to develop their agriculture,
and with the profits develop their communities. They do not want foreign
capitalism coming into Nepal. They want to develop hydropower and solar
power for electricity, and bring electricity to remote areas. Most of
the water that goes to India is from Nepal, from the glacier lakes in
the Himalayas. They would further develop the water industry, and develop
the cultivation of rare herbs and medicines that are found only in the
Himalayas. When the Neo Liberals talk about development, they mean the
development of capitalism and the acquirement of profits for multi national
companies. When the Maoists talk about development, they mean that work
and industry should serve the society and the people, to develop their
possibilities and potentials, to improve the conditions of their life.
Mangal Biswakarma and all the Maoist leaders are very clear; they know
that the US is their enemy and that the US is the enemy of Communism;
they also know the US is meddling in their affairs and that the US is
behind the seven parties. However, they have a strategy for dealing
with the US… We ask him about tourism. Nepal is a popular destination
for travellers, mountain trekkers, and Westerners searching for religious
enlightenment. He tells us that tourists are welcome in Nepal, as long
as they have a good purpose. If they come to abuse, however, they are
not welcome.
We leave Tila Bazaar; leave
the Autonomous republic to go to back to Gorai, a large town that is
not completely under Maoist control, and from Gorai we can catch a bus
back to Kathmandu. There are police in this town and in every shop or
restaurant there are pictures of the various Hindu gods and goddesses;
on the streets, there are big advertising billboards with Bollywood
stars selling beauty products and soft drinks. In Gorai, we interview
two women, Comrade Astha, and Comrade Shimana. Comrade Astha got involved
in student politics from the age of fourteen. She studied in a university
in Pokhara, and she was an activist in the student’s union. After
the uprising in 1996, she joined the CPN-Maoist. She was a bureau member,
then an assistant supervisor before she transferred to the central base
area. The Maoists encourage those who grew up in towns and cities to
work in the villages and the country for a while, and vice versa. This
is because the culture in the towns and the villages are very different.
The towns are often very modern and face different problems to the villages,
which are still feudal. This practice is a form of education for Maoist
cadre. Her husband was also a party member, but after his mysterious
disappearance four years ago, Astha decided to join the PLA. She is
now a commander. She has one brother and two sisters. One sister is
married, but the other is also in the PLA. Her brother is in university.
Her parents were not happy at first that she had joined the PLA, but
now they support the Maoists. Comrade Shimana is Astha’s secretary.
She was in the PLA for three years, but suffered injuries in the battle
of Kara, near Rukum. She was shot in her abdomen and her hand. She took
a leave of nine months to recover, and now she works with Astha.
Women are thrice oppressed
in Nepal. Comrades Astha and Shimana tell us that in addition to imperialism
and feudalism, women are also oppressed by the traditional patriarchal
society. In feudalistic society, women cannot speak in public; husbands
often beat their wives; women not only do household work, they are also
expected to work on the land; women cannot choose the man they marry;
and men and women do not socialise together, and women do not receive
education. There is a tradition of polygamy in Nepali society, and women
could not own property. Capitalist globalisation brings new terrors
for women; women work in awful sweatshops; women are trafficked to other
parts of the world, particularly Gulf States, as part of the global
sex industry; furthermore, there is a big Nepali sex industry, with
Western sex tourists coming to places like Kathmandu to go to the many
‘massage’ parlours and dance bars. Globalisation also sells
beauty, and tries to get women to buy things like skin fairness cream
and to go to beauty parlours to try and look like actresses from Bollywood
or Hollywood. Nepali women have very difficult lives; the norms and
values of traditional society that wants women to be servile workers
and wives; the norms and values of capitalist globalisation that wants
women to be sex objects. Maoism challenges both of these alternatives
at the same time, and has its own response. In the party itself, there
are measures to deal with sexism. Comrade Astha tells us about a book
published by Comrade Parvati discussing women’s issues in the
party, and changing the consciousness of men – a revolution in
the revolution, as Comrade Astha describes it. We have seen already
how the Maoists have changed things for women. In the PLA and Maoist
circles, men and women socialise freely, and the sight of strong PLA
women has overturned many prejudices. Women did not wear trousers before
the arrival of the PLA, but now it is common.
The first time we were in
Gorai, we attended a meeting of the Maoist Women’s organisation.
Local women of all ages came to the meeting from teenagers and mothers
with children to toothless old grandmothers. These were ordinary Nepali
women; women who worked in shops and in fields; women who looked after
children and grandchildren; women who had worked abroad or worked in
Kathmandu. The Maoists addressed these women and their concerns; they
spoke about how the feudalistic and capitalist system perpetuated the
oppression of women, and proposed their plans. An Italian Comrade from
the International Road Building Brigade also addressed the women with
greetings from Italy. She told the women that there was a struggle against
the oppression of women in Europe as well as Asia, and that religion
and capitalist globalisation still oppressed women even in Europe. Maoism
has already changed much for Nepali women, but it will change more.
As one PLA soldier told us in Tawang: “Before women could not
even speak in public, but now we have rifles.”
We speak also to a teacher,
Khem Raj Achari. He is a teacher of Nepali literature, and a member
of ANTO, the revolutionary teachers association. He teaches in a government
school, but due to Maoist influence, the teachers at this school do
not have to teach about the history of Kings etc. The influence of Maoism
has opened up many questions about literature and traditional culture.
For instance, the great mythological epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana
are an important part of traditional Nepali culture and literature,
as in India. They are traditionally taught as Shastras, as religious
doctrine. Now the children read the traditional epics as literature,
not scripture. We ask Achari about what problems he faces as a teacher.
He tells us that the children are fine until they reach ninth grade,
when they start getting into Western pop culture. The children do not
understand much of Western pop culture, but they copy the styles and
fashions that they see on television.
We leave Gorai for Kathmandu.
In Kathmandu, we meet three members of the Dalit Liberation Front or
DLF. Dalits are people who are considered outside the Hindu caste system,
and they are known as ‘untouchables’. In many Indian and
Nepali villages, there is a separate well for high caste people and
for Dalits. Dalits cannot eat next to the high castes, marry a high
caste person, or even be friends with someone of a higher caste. Dalit
is the name that these people have chosen to call themselves, and it
means ‘Oppressed’ in Hindi and Nepali. Balaram Vishwakarma,
a Central Committee member and a leading activist of the DLF, tells
us that about 500 years ago, much of Nepal was autonomous; this changed
with the rise of the Kathmandu monarchy. The Kathmandu monarchy made
Hinduism the state religion and suppressed the indigenous and aboriginal
people of Nepal, some of who came to be designated as ‘untouchables’.
According to Birendra Raj Shoonar, another DLF activist and member of
the Central Committee, the Kings acted like a colonial ruler, with a
policy of divide and rule. Caste has a religious sanction in Hinduism,
and the Kings could play off the different castes against each other.
The oppressed Dalit people supported the Maoists, and the DLF tries
to end not only caste discrimination and prejudice; they want to end
the caste system itself. They understand, through Maoist analysis, the
caste system is an integral part of the feudalism. Hinduism and its
caste system is the ideology that perpetuates feudalism. To end caste,
feudalism must end, and these outdated cruel religious practices must
end.
We also have a meeting with
members of the Peasant and Farmers association. The President of the
association, Shivraj Gautam, tells us that 80% of Nepali people are
involved in agriculture, and 42% of the national income is from agricultural
produce. The present system of agriculture is not a good one, and they
are trying to develop a good system. The Peasant and Farmers association
is present in all 78 local districts of Nepal, and they have about 7500
full timers in their organisation. The Peasants and Farmers association
is concerned with the plight of landless people, with their oppression
by middle class peasants and landlords. The aim of the Maoist redistribution
is to take land from the landlords and give it to the landless peasants.
Fertility varies greatly in Nepal, for example in the hilly and mountainous
regions, farming is very difficult and there is only a little production,
while in the Terai region, the land is very fertile. The land is usually
fertile for about nine months of the year, then it becomes too cold,
and there is snow. During the People's War, the Maoists captured about
50,000 acres of land from the landlords; they redistributed the land
to the poor landless people, to the indigenous Adivasis or Tribals,
and to the families of PLA Martyrs killed fighting the RNA.
How do they redistribute
the land? According to Chritrabad Shastri, the secretary of the Peasant
and Farmers association, one person can hold a maximum of 28 ‘bigars’.
This is a Nepali measurement, and is a reasonable size for agriculture.
The landlords are allowed some of their captured land back, but to the
10 bigar limit. The Peasant and Farmer’s association is also trying
to end feudalism, and to capture all of the land and redistribute it.
How is the land redistributed? They answer that they do not accept the
traditional family inheritance system, as it is patriarchal and the
land passes down from father to son. The land is distributed according
to the need of the people, not according to family lineages.
Shivraj and Chitrabad tell
us also that women do about 90% of the agricultural work, as many men
try to go abroad, usually to India and the Middle East, to work. Men
in the countryside dominate women, but they are trying to eradicate
patriarchy by ending feudalism. For example, about 60% of women in the
countryside are illiterate, but Maoist Women’s groups and the
Peasants and Farmers Association hold literacy forums to teach the people
to read and write. There is a mobile school, and they try to teach people
on a seasonal basis. They would like to expand their teaching facilities
but it all depends on the political future.
What about the landlords?
How do they feel about this? The revisionist UML party wants to give
‘compensation’ to the landlords, but the Maoists say that
the former landlords can work the land like everybody else and get their
quota of land of 10 bigars, not more. This is all part of a strategy
to end feudalism. About 15,000 landlords were driven out. Some former
landlords have come back freely, after the peace treaty, and they accept
their 10 bigars of land. They can see the rationality of the Maoist
plan; they can see the justice of the Maoist programme. Other landlords,
the ultra feudalists and exploiters, are not able to go back to their
former land. One should remember that a privilege of a feudal landlord,
in Nepal or India, is the privilege to have any woman he chooses as
his right, that is the landlord has the right to rape. The police are
always on the side of the landlords, as are the priests and religious
authorities. When the Maoists come, these cruel old traditions are finished.
Shivraj Gautam tells us that even in the Terai region, the region on
the borders of India, the region that is most influenced by Indian culture
and tradition, the people support the Maoists, and their support defied
all expectations. Of the 50,000 acres of land that has been redistributed,
about 95% is from the Terai belt. The feelings of the ordinary people
are with the Maoists
In Kathmandu, we go to the
Ratoghar, or the Red house. We meet with Yubraj, the Vice President
of the All Nepal National Independent Students Union (revolutionary),
or ANNISU. ANNISU are present in all 78 districts of Nepal, and have
over 1.2 million members. They have eleven members in the Central Committee.
They are one of the largest student organisations in the country, and
they have the largest number of students in the Student’s Union.
They are struggling for a democratic education system. They will work
with all those who want a Nepalese republic, but they do not work in
coalition with other student organisations. They believe in equal opportunities
for all Nepali students; they would like to turn the private universities
of Nepal into universities for everyone. What is a democratic education
system? Yubraj tells us that the political system influences and conditions
the political system, and that the poor people do not usually go to
universities. When the Maoists capture state power, then there will
be real democracy. Democratic education means a drastic change in the
philosophy of education. They would like a participatory and co-operative
educational system, an education system that is relevant to the needs
of the Nepali people, and not to the needs of foreign capitalists. There
will be new and different ways of teaching and examinations. They do
not like the current individualist education system, with its emphasis
on getting a respectable job and a respected place in society. They
believe that education should change the thoughts of the people; education
should be applied to the real and practical problems that Nepal faces.
This is the unity of theory and practice. They stress the need of constant
criticism and self-criticism; the students should criticise the teachers
and the teachers should criticise the students. They want their education
system to liberate and emancipate the people. They want to reverse the
‘brain drain’ of Nepali students leaving to go to rich western
countries; Yubraj tells us: “We want to export thought, not cheap
labour to other countries.” We ask them what the current university
teachers are like, are they leftwing or rightwing? Gopal, a member of
the Students Union, tells us that some teachers are leftwing and others
are rightwing. Most teachers, however, also want to see a change in
the education system.
A few days later, we get
the news that we can meet Comrade Prachanda, the Chairman of CPN-Maoist.
We meet him in a hotel lobby, and we spend about half an hour with him.
He asks us where we are from, and about our experiences in Rolpa. He
seems a very serious yet at the same time a very humble man. He impresses
us by his sharp intellect. He tells us that every revolution develops
through twists and turns. There are complex situations; they have to
be on the strategic offensive. They launched the protracted People’s
War, but now they are in a different situation, they have a new strategy.
The Nepali Maoists try to learn from the different revolutions of the
20th century, the Russian, the Chinese, and other experiences such as
those in Latin America, those of Peru and Nicaragua. They do not dogmatically
copy past revolutions, but apply the insights of previous revolutions
to their own conditions. Nepal is a semi feudal and semi colonial country,
with particular problems that were not there in Russia or China; there
has been the rise of globalisation and new technology; and there is
a need to think of a new strategy according to the development of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
He emphasises the need to experiment with new tactics and strategies.
He is very positive, and says that there are favourable conditions for
a 21st century revolution. A new world will emerge from South Asia.
We have the chance to ask some questions; we ask if he can give some
advice to people who want to make a revolution in Western countries.
He told us: “You need to have a ‘concrete analysis of the
concrete conditions’ in your country. Learn what you can from
the previous revolutions, but do not copy.”
It is clear from what we
have seen and what we have experienced in Nepal that this is a genuine
people’s movement. The changes we have seen in education, farming,
and social relations between men and women, the attempts to get rid
of all that oppresses humanity in a practical way and trying to find
better ways to do things, better ways to live, are all a process of
the Maoist Cultural Revolution.
The United States consider the Maoists, somewhat predictably, a ‘terrorist’
organisation. The aptly named American ambassador, Mr. Moriarty, a ‘Quiet
American’ is speaking and moving against the Maoists. It is clear
to everybody that the Americans are on the side of the privileged rich
against the poor masses. Many ordinary Nepalese cannot understand why
the Americans are meddling in their affairs at all. It is this kind
of imperial arrogance that makes people all around the world hate America
and the West.
Just before crossing the
border for India, I meet an old peasant at a tea stall, and we talk.
He is a religious man who believes in God, in Shiva and in Kal Bhairav,
but he also supports the Maoists. I ask him about his religion and his
support for the Maoists. He tells me that according to the ancient teaching
of the Brahmins, it is now the Kal-Yug or Dark Age. The era of kings,
warriors, and priests is over. That is, it is over for them, and they
know it. Similarly, when the Americans and other Western Liberal intellectuals
talk about the ‘End of History’, what they mean is that
history is over for them; they cannot move beyond the present state
of things and they cannot create a better world - and they know it too.
For the masses of people in Nepal, the poor and the oppressed, the destitute
and the landless, history is only just beginning.
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