Nepali student movement holds conference
By Sean Healy
KATHMANDU, NEPAL — The All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU), Nepal's largest student organisation and one of the world's largest left student organisations, held its 14th national conference from September 11 to 14.
The ANNFSU has a long history of involvement in student and democratic struggles in Nepal and has widespread support among Nepalese.
During the panchayat era, 1960 to 1990, when parties were banned and all power was concentrated in the hands of the king, the ANNFSU was central to the democracy movement. When public discontent boiled over into popular rebellion in 1990, the ANNFSU was central to organising the massive demonstrations in Kathmandu that forced King Birendhra to accede to democratic reforms.
The ANNFSU is in solidarity with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). The CPN (UML) has hundreds of thousands of members and is the second largest party in the national parliament.
The conference was attended by about 1000 secondary and university student delegates from every corner of Nepal. They discussed plans for consolidating the ANNFSU, contesting student union elections in early 1999 and supporting the CPN (UML)'s election campaign.
During the inaugural march and rally, some 10,000 students wound their way through Kathmandu, then filled the city's large Bisantapur Square.
The city bore witness to the ANNFSU's strength. Every college had messages of support daubed on its walls. Red flags with the ANNFSU's pen and star motif fluttered from street poles, and everywhere there were ANNFSU posters greeting guests and advertising the conference.
The conference followed a difficult year for the communist movement in Nepal. At its sixth congress in February, the CPN (UML) suffered a split, with the splinter group forming itself as the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist).
The CPN (ML) took 40 of the party's 90 parliamentary MPs and a considerable proportion of its local councillors. The split also occurred in mass organisations affiliated to the CPN (UML), including in the ANNFSU.
The CPN (ML) accused the party leadership of capitulating to "Indian expansionism" and US imperialism by supporting the Mahakali treaty. The treaty divides the electricity generated by hydro-electric projects on the Mahakali River between Nepal and India. It was negotiated during the short period of CPN (UML) government in 1994 and won some concessions from a previously intractable Indian government.
The CPN (ML) carried out a demagogic campaign against the treaty. The confusion that generated had a considerable impact on the ANNFSU, with some national and local leaders also splitting.
Now, seven months after the split, the situation is becoming much clearer. Many of the members and activists of the CPN (UML) and the ANNFSU saw the split as unnecessary and a blow to the unity of a party which has massive support in the countryside. Eighty-five per cent have remained loyal to the CPN (UML).
More dramatic proof of the opportunist and destructive nature of the split group appeared when the CPN (ML) decided to join the right-wing Nepali Congress in government.
From criticising the CPN (UML) for doing parliamentary deals with establishment parties, now the CPN (ML) has ministerial positions in a government which is privatising government assets and murdering its own citizens in the suppression of Maoist insurgents in western Nepal.
Speaking in Patna, India, Yograj Gautum, the CPN (ML)'s student international officer, explained the three main motivations for joining the government: to mitigate the worst effects of a Congress government, to pass a new law on local bodies and "to destroy the CPN (UML)".
The law on local bodies has become a major issue in Nepal. It is a major part of the Congress's attempts to muzzle the CPN (UML), especially in the rural areas. The CPN (UML) won 80% of the seats in village development committee elections held in 1997, plus 60% of the seats on district bodies. It also won control of the united body of VDCs.
In the hill and mountain areas of the east, and in the Kathmandu Valley, the CPN (UML) reigns supreme. The Nepali Congress, in contrast, draws most of its support from the Terai, closer to India.
A major basis for the independence and influence of the VDCs and the district bodies is the practice of octroi, which gives these bodies the right to levy certain taxes, ending their dependence on the national government for funds. Abolishing octroi is a major aim of the new law being presented to parliament by the Nepali Congress.
On September 17, after a week of protests within the parliament chamber, the law was passed with the support of the CPN (ML).
The Nepali Congress's bribe was allowing CPN (ML) councillors to retain their VDC and district seats. The previous electoral law provided for elections on the basis of party lists, thereby giving parties the right to appoint new representatives if elected councillors resigned or left the party.
The response from the CPN (UML) was immediate. For three days after the law was passed, demonstrations were held across the country, including a monster rally in Kathmandu on September 21.
For the ANNFSU, the next year presents some major challenges: to overcome the effects of the split, to reassert its strength on a national level and to prepare for the general elections.
The actions of the various parties has gone a considerable way to expose the opportunism of the CPN (ML) and consolidate popular support for the CPN (UML) after the split.