Nepal: Struggle for civilian supremacy heats up

January 15, 2010
Issue 

The movement in Nepal for the restoration of civilian supremacy continued in December, with 100,000 people demonstrating in Kathamndu on December 22 on the final day of a three-day general strike called by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M).

The general strike was the culmination of a series of mass demonstrations and blockades of local and national government offices. The UCPN-M-led demonstrations are part of the campaign against the unconstitutional actions of President Ram Baran Yadav in May 2009.

Yadav, from the right-wing Nepali Congress, overruled the democratically elected UCPN-M-led government's decision to sack the head of the military for insubordination. The military chiefs had defied government orders to implement aspects of peace accords that ended a decade-long civil war between the Royal Army and the Maoists.

The latest round of demonstrations and strikes are part of the movement to create a new, pro-people Nepal. A key part of this is the process of creating a new constitution, which began with the overthrow of the centuries-old monarchy in 2006.

The struggle to restore civilian supremacy since Yadav's decision has progressed in waves. There has been a series of peaceful demonstrations, regional transport strikes and blockades of government buildings (preventing the government from functioning).

Such actions led up to the December 20-22 general strike, which involved clashes between demonstrators and police.

The government, which replaced the UCPN-M-led coalition in May, has refused to back down and reinstate civilian democracy. It is refusing to debate the president's actions in the Constituent Assembly.

The Maoists, who enjoy mass support among the poor majority, have warned that unless concrete action on restoring civilian democracy is taken, an indefinite general strike will be called in late January.

To advance the struggle for a "New Nepal", in late 2009 the Maoists declared the creation of a series of new "autonomous" states across Nepal, largely based on oppressed nationalities or other minority groups.

In December, 18 different autonomous states were declared across Nepal at mass rallies. In some areas, new democratic local structures have been created to provide grassroots community governance while the new constitution is drafted and the struggle for a new state plays out.

The Maoist-led movement is gathering strength, but it is facing threats from a ruling elite determined to hold on to power.

Police are increasingly attacking Maoist activists. Landless farmers who have occupied the land of wealthy landlords, or fallow land not being used by the state, have come under attack.

At least four people were killed in Kailali when police opened fire on a crowd of up to 20,000 people who had gathered to defend landless people from eviction.

A January 13 article on eKantipur.com said in Parsa district, an indefinite strike had been called by the Maoists to demand an end to the murder of Maoist activists. It was called after Maoist cadre Rajesh Mandal was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

This comes after the murder of three other Maoist cadre in the district on January 6.

The most disturbing example of the thinking of the ruling elite came with a December 20 opinion piece in Myrepublica.com by Nepal's ambassador to the US, Sukhdev Shah. He advocated a military coup to establish a dictatorship.

Shah said the rise of a Nepali "Pinochet" (after the infamous Chilean dictator who seized power in a 1973 coup) may be the only way to defeat the growing Maoist-led movement.

He said this was a growing view among members of Nepali Congress, one of the coalition partners in government.

Conflict is likely to continue and deepen in Nepal. The January 5 Himalayan Times reported Maoist leader Prachanda had explained his party's approach to the coming period: "At present, our party's line is to make preparations for a decisive revolt by using the fronts of the street, parliament and the government."

Prachanda has also declared a key goal of the Maoists is to win genuine national sovereignty. He demanded neighbouring India, which has long sought to dominate the Himalayan country, give back Nepali land it occupies.

The conflict between the Maoist-led mass movement and elite reflects the fundamental contradictions in the political situation: the conflict between the democratic aspirations of the people and the power of the state in the hands of the elites.

A kind of dual power is beginning to emerge, with the police and military in the hands of the old power, and new emerging structures based on the oppressed developing through the declarations of autonomous states and the constitution-writing process.

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