The armed conflict continues unabated in Nepal despite the news blackout ordered by the reactionary Nepalese regime and the banishment of news of the struggle to brief articles appearing sporadically in the imperialist media. Even the dissolution of parliament and proclamation of a state of emergency by the King at the beginning of February 2005 has had no effect.
Since 1996, a revolutionary armed war of liberation has been gathering pace and scope in Nepal. This war can rely on the active support and sympathy of the broad masses who number among the most exploited and subjugated of Nepal, mostly coming from the countryside. It is however also firmly anchored in urban areas of the country. One remarkable feature of these struggles is the number of women involved, even in the armed operations.
A prime reason for the nervousness of local Nepalese rulers and the anxiety of the imperialist great powers, lest we not forget the German imperialists, is the fact that the commanders of this armed struggle are forces orientated towards scientific communism, forces which also see themselves as fighting for the proletarian world revolution. From the outset, these forces have made clear their aim of bringing about an all-encompassing anti-imperialist, anti-feudalist revolution in Nepal, based on that successfully carried out under the command of the Chinese Communist Party in 1930s and 1940s in China, by means of a protracted people's war.
Some features and peculiarities of the revolutionary war in Nepal The anti-feudalist and anti-imperialist revolution
Nepal is a country predominantly agricultural in nature. Given this fact, the people's war aims at the expropriation of the estates of the large feudal landowners (the Zamindars) and the subsequent redistribution of such lands to the poor, landless peasantry. However, this war of liberation also targets the comprador bourgeoisie of Nepal, behind which stands imperialism. It therefore follows that another aim is the expropriation of banks, industrial plants, etc. As a result of the tremendous courage and a remarkable willingness to make sacrifices of the great masses fighting under the command of forces orientated towards scientific communism, liberated areas have been established in around two thirds of the country - a fact even bourgeois sources cannot bring themselves to deny.
Up until now, the armed struggle has been based - due to geographical reasons - in the largely inaccessible mountain regions of Western Nepal, around the cities of Rukum and Rolpa, where
peasants are forced to slog away in leasehold lands or tiny plots of land under the oppressive rule of their feudal masters. Revolutionaries have made use of political information campaigns to successfully mobilize the masses to rise up against their bloodsuckers. For many years now, peasants have been burning their certificates of indebtedness and loan papers which enslave them to their masters. More often than not, these were taken directly from banks by insurgents using armed force, because the banks and money lenders with their enslaving credit contracts drive the peasant masses into heavy debts.
Armament
Revolutionaries have systematically been able to acquire large quantities of weapons, ammunition, explosives, etc. through own production, purchase and via highly planned raids on army barracks and police stations. This increase in arms and equipment not only improves combat techniques needed to strengthen one's own positions and inflict damage on the enemy, it also enables raids to be carried out on banks as a means of seizing large quantities of money, and enables the release of democratic and revolutionary prisoners from the dungeons of Nepalese prisons.
The establishment of base areas and liberated areas
Some areas in the West of Nepal, where the armed revolutionaries receive strong support from the local population, are no longer patrolled by the army or police. In some places, such as the Rolpa district, they have not been seen for years. Working closely with local people, armed insurgents rule and protect the liberated areas and base areas, while civil servants working within the Nepalese state apparatus no longer dare to openly resist the masses out of fear for this new power.
Base areas are managed by experienced comrades within revolutionary United Front Committees. In terms of the procedures involved, armed insurgents, working hand in hand with the progressive masses of the locality, will first declare a particular area as a potential base area, before focussing on the four immediate tasks, as follows:
- The destruction of the enemy organs of the state (the storming of barracks and police stations, the seizure of weapons and munitions, the capture or neutralization of members of the military and police and high-ranking civil servants),
- the fight against collaborators and spies,
- the expropriation of large feudal landowners,
- the liquidation of former state organs and organisms, the establishment of new People's Committees, and the organization of the masses into revolutionary mass organizations (for women, peasants, students, etc.).
Within these areas, expropriated lands are distributed according to the motto "each plowman his own land" and the principle of equal rights of ownership for men and women. Despite this, in many of the liberated areas work is performed on a cooperative basis. More modern and effective means of production are being introduced. Literacy campaigns have been initiated, without which after all it would be impossible to instill a greater communist consciousness amongst the masses.
Uniting the fighting peasants with the workers of the cities
The uniting of the revolutionary struggle in the countryside with that in the cities and urban centers is very important. Mass strikes and blockades are carried out, for example on the anniversary of the beginning of the armed struggle in 1996 and on May 1st, in which workers fought side by side with students and peasants. Operations such as the blockade of Kathmandu in response to the king's putsch on 1st February 2005 would have been impossible without the involvement and support of urban workers and the urban exploited.
Widespread involvement of working women
In Nepal, the economic suppression of women is firmly rooted in the feudal and semi-feudal means of production. Enslaved by their exploiters, they are treated almost as if there were "the property" of their husbands and families, through arranged marriages, the ban on widows remarrying, sexual exploitation, denial of school education, and so on. In the liberated areas, women are given autonomous property rights over their land, the same rights which apply to the inheritance of parental property. The abolition of arranged marriages means women can now freely choose their partner. An ideological war is being fought against the "male line of succession", i.e. against the absolute necessity of producing a son.
In the liberated areas, women play a decisive role in the exercising of this new people's power, e.g. in the mass organizations, special female militias or in the People's Liberation Army. In actual fact, the high level of female participation in the armed struggle is the one remarkable feature of the liberation struggle in Nepal, especially given that these women are not just confined to "traditional" female roles, e.g. in culture, etc., but are also active as Committee secretaries, propagandists, even as commanding officers of armed units.
Widespread involvement of suppressed minority peoples and suppressed castes
The history of Nepal is characterized by a complete lack of rights for minority peoples, the lower castes and the "untouchables". They are all exposed to the Hindu-Nepali chauvinism of the higher castes, harassed by the authorities, marginalized and disparaged in schools and within the media, and treated as slaves by the large landowners. Mass involvement in the armed liberation struggle is a direct result of its aims for equality, the prospect of self-determination, even secession. As one 40 year old fighter of the people's liberation army explains:
"The main reason why I joined the People's Liberation Army was because of discrimination from the upper Hindu castes, the suppression of minorities by the reactionary ruling classes. We Magars have absolutely no chance to have our voices heard anywhere within the government machinery. The only way left for us to liberate ourselves from this suppression is through armed struggle." (www.grbv.it/ 3dossier/asia/nepal/nepal.html)
* * *
With the scattering of the cabinet and parliament by the King of Nepal in February 2005, the Nepalese regime was able to grant feudal large landowners and the compradors dependent on imperialism even more "freedom" to carry out their acts of terror to destroy the mass armed liberation struggle.
India has a double role in a Nepal dependent on imperialism: On the one hand, it continues to pursue its own expansionist, counter-revolutionary interests. At the same time, behind India lies imperialism, in particular US- and British imperialism, but also German imperialism. And India acts as the puppet of the imperialist great powers, who often act from bases on Indian territory.
As in the past, India has once again offered its "assistance" to the Nepalese regime in suppressing the revolutionary struggle. For a while now, 80,000 Indian soldiers have been mobilized at the border. In December 2004, Indian troops even marched into the Guleria district of Nepal, where they destroyed houses and persecuted the local population. In the district of Kanchapur, they placed insurgents under arrest. Indian troops have also set up military checkpoints in numerous locations in Eastern Nepal, (www.awtw.org news service)
It thus appears that the reactionary Indian and Nepalese rulers are currently "pulling in the same direction" in the interests of the counter-revolution. It should not be forgotten that the reactionary Indian state has for decades been attempting, without success, to quell armed fighting revolutionary movements on its own territory, e.g. the Naxalites. "The Maoist uprising is not only a threat to the security of Nepal, but also to that of India" - Shyan Saran, India's ambassador in Kathmandu said again recently (in: Freitag No. 37, 9/3/04). It is no surprise that our Nepalese comrades are preparing themselves for the day when the expansionist Indian regime, perhaps under the involvement of the imperialist great powers, may march into Nepal under the banner of "anti-feudalism", as "the harbingers of democracy". The "Times of India" has been calling for "decisive intervention" for several months now: "Nepal appears to be getting out of control... Sooner or later someone will have to intervene - the question is who and when?" (ibid.).
The US- and British imperialists have declared the war against the armed liberation movement in Nepal a part of their "war on terror". In July 2004, the US ambassador to Nepal declared that "chaos and anarchy in Nepal is a threat to the region and to the vital interests of the USA" (Himalayan Times, 7/20/04). In October 2004, it was revealed that Great Britain was supplying Nepal with BN2T Islander reconnaissance aircraft. The same month, 500 M-16A2 assault rifles arrived in Nepal from the USA, the third partial consignment from a contract signed in 2002. In April 2004, the USA and Nepal signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" to develop cooperation between the two countries, involving in particular the dispatch of US military advisors.
The imperialist rivals of US- and British imperialism, in particular the German and French imperialism, are attempting to present themselves to the workers of Nepal as the "more humane alternative", more interested in "development aid" than a "military solution". To say nothing of the fact that the hypocrisy that is humanitarian development aid is an imperialist propaganda lie - a means of spreading the realm of influence of, and dependency on imperialism still further -the German and French imperialists are also pursuing their own "dual-track policy". In April 2004 it was revealed that France was supplying Nepal with military helicopters, manufactured in India under license from the French company Eurocopter. For its part, German imperialism is just waiting for the right opportunity to resume delivery of tens of thousands of German assault rifles to Nepal, officially cancelled two years ago.
This particular revolutionary armed liberation struggle fought under the red flag is extremely important for communist forces based in Germany and in all other countries of the world. For ourselves here in Germany, proletarian internationalism especially requires us both to pillory and destroy the counter-revolutionary machinations of German imperialism, such as this planned arms deliveries to the reactionary Nepalese regime, arms which will be used to massacre red fighters.
It is the duty of workers and all progressive forces in Germany to support the progressive struggles in Nepal. At the same time, we must fight German imperialism for providing assistance to reactionaries in Nepal, and we must expose its military machinations as well as those passed off as humanitarian aid.
It is the duty of all anti-imperialist forces to support the revolutionary liberation struggle morally, politically and materially as much as they can. The relevant documentary material must be studied, and solidary debate is required with the communist-orientated forces in Nepal. Proletarian internationalism means solidarity in both words and deeds. Such a communist party in a oppressor nation,
"which is hostile to imperialism in words but in deeds does not wage a revolutionary struggle within 'its own' colonies for the overthrow of 'its own' bourgeoisie, does not systematically assist the revolutionary work which has already begun everywhere in the colonies, and does not send arms and literature to the revolutionary parties in the colonies, is a party of scoundrels and traitors."
(Lenin, from "The Tasks of the Third International", 1919, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 505)
Important developments in Nepal over recent weeks
On February 1st 2005, further restrictions were placed on already limited democratic rights such as freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the right to protest, the right to join a trade union, etc. Immediately afterwards, media censorship was intensified and telephone- and internet connections were temporarily suspended. Within the space of just a few days, hundreds of people, including prominent activists from the freedom movement, trade unionists, politically active students and journalists were arrested. Some of them "disappeared", others have since been released but many remain incarcerated. Political parties are banned, party leaders are either under house arrest or in prison. Officers from the reactionary army monitor the editorial offices of newspapers and radio and television stations to ensure that only pure entertainment and no political news is released.
Army generals declare quite openly how they are now free to do as they see fit in the "total war" against the rebels, they no longer need to tread carefully.1 Even the Indian army is involved in operations against the insurgents, e.g. the events in the Bardia district on February 28th. Earlier, on February 3rd 2005, Indian border police entered Nepalese territory as a part of an armed operation which led to the arrest of insurgents.2
In spite of this bloody pursuit, the state of emergency and the brutal repression, spirited demonstrations have taken place on a number of occasions in Kathmandu. Between February 12th and 23rd, insurgents managed to block off the major roads of Nepal, cutting off traffic to and from Kathmandu.3 These blockades were in places backed up by military force, e.g. in the battle for the Prithwi Highway which lasted two weeks. The reactionary Nepalese army forced bus drivers at gunpoint to drive through the blockade, using unarmed civilians as "human shields" for their military transports.4
The struggle continued and continues in the rest of the country. On March 4th 2005, hundreds of revolutionary fighters in the south west of Nepal seized a number of military barracks and government buildings and burnt them to the ground.5
About the path of revolution in Nepal
Statements coming from the communist-oriented forces in Nepal, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), which began its armed struggle against the feudalist imperialist-dependent Nepalese state in 1996, demonstrate how these forces are using the anti-imperialist, anti-feudalist revolution in China as a model for this struggle. These statements also demonstrate their plan to initiate a protracted people's war modeled on the revolutionary war of liberation which brought success to the leaders of the CP of China in the anti-imperialist democratic revolution in China in 1949.
The studying of the works of Mao Tse-tung concerning the concept of the protracted people's war are of tremendous importance if one is to understand the armed struggle in Nepal, and apply these teachings to it. In our opinion, the orientation towards the revolutionary people's war in China is both correct and inevitable in a country such as Nepal.
Of course, there are some important differences. Aside from a difference in the size of the two countries, China has far more urban, and thus industrial, centers than Nepal. Not only was imperialist power and control apparatus concentrated in these centers, but also a relatively large number of workers.
Nevertheless, despite such differences, there are a number of identical or at least very similar aspects, which permits the basic tenets and guiding principles of the revolutionary war, as it was carried out in China, to be applied to Nepal as well.
• As in China of that time, Nepal is today a country with minimal capitalist development, which is characterized by semi-feudal structures, in places akin to slavery, particularly in the rural areas, but also manifested in the character and structure of the reactionary state apparatus itself. Therefore, the struggle of the masses of exploited peasants creates a large revolutionary potential as the revolution in Nepal develops.
• As in China at that time, today's Nepal is also a country dependent on imperialism. The bourgeoisie in power has the character of a comprador bourgeoisie, in other words, they act as both the "mouthpiece" and the lackey for imperialism which dominates in Nepal.
• As in China, many regions of Nepal are almost totally cut off and very hard to reach.
Taking these conditions into account, we feel that the basic tenets and guiding principles relating to the revolutionary war of liberation in the form of a protracted people's war, as formulated by Mao Tse-tung in his writings on the Chinese revolution, are of great importance to the armed revolution in Nepal: The military strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside", the establishment of red base areas, the strategy of a protracted people's war. It goes without saying that the communists of Nepal, and no-one else, have to carry out the highly responsible task of making a detailed study and analysis to determine what suits the situation in Nepal and what doesn't.
* * *
The driving political-ideological force behind the armed struggle in Nepal and the recourse to a people's war in 1996 is the CP of Nepal (Maoists). The CPN(M) is a member of the "Revolutionary International Movement" (RIM). Based on a study of the fundamental documents and statements of the CPN(M), we would like to assert the following:
• We consider their basic position to the character and the perspectives of the armed anti-imperialist democratic revolution in Nepal to be correct.
• We also consider it good and proper that the CPN(M) places a great deal of importance on the inclusion of women in the struggle in its statements, activities and organizational work, in its struggle against the chains of patriarchy, against the enslavement of women by men, in the family and in society as a whole.
• It is also worth mentioning here the correctness of the party's position vis-a-vis the suppressed national minorities and the lower castes and population segments in Nepal, and its furtherance of the right to self-determination for such people up to the right of secession.
However, we feel that the following points require further discussion with our comrades in Nepal:
• From the statements of the CPN(M) regarding the orientation towards the military path of a people's war using experiences gathered during the Chinese revolution, we have noticed a tendency to generalize the people's war approach to other countries, in spite of this or that limitation, which borders on the CPN(M) assuming its "universality" (for an example, cf. The Worker, No. 6, p. 20).
For a start, we consider this to be problematic for other suppressed countries who are dependent on imperialism. The reason being that such countries, despite their common dependence on imperialism, often vary quite considerably in terms of their levels of capitalist development, in terms of the extent of influence held by feudalist elements, and because of other, mostly historical peculiarities. For this reason, we are of the opinion that each communist party should carefully analyze the situation in its own country before deciding whether military base areas or liberated areas are suitable for example. It represents a denial of the facts to hold that base areas can be established in all colonial, semi-colonial and dependent countries without exception. No such generalization is proposed anywhere in the works of Mao Tse-tung.
We would also like to give our comrades of the CPN(M) something else to think about: This thesis, in being published as "Maoist", at the same time ignores the fact that Mao Tse-tung explicitly stopped at applying the military path of the Chinese revolution to conditions prevailing in the imperialist countries:
"The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of the issue by war, is the central task and the highest form of revolution. This marxist-leninist principle of revolution holds good universally, for China and for all other countries.
But while the principle remains the same, its application by the party of the proletariat finds expression in varying ways according to the varying conditions. Internally, capitalist countries practise bourgeois democracy (not feudalism) when they are not fascist or not at war; in their external relations, they are not oppressed by, but themselves oppress, other nations. Because of these characteristics, it is the task of the party of the proletariat in the capitalist countries to educate the workers and build up strength through a long period of legal struggle, and thus prepare for the final overthrow of capitalism. (...) And when the time comes to launch such an insurrection and war, the first step will be to seize the cities, and then advance into the countryside, and not the other way about. All this has been done by Communist Parties in capitalist countries, and it has been proved correct by the October Revolution in Russia." (Mao Tse-tung: "Problems of War and Strategy", 1938, Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 219-220)
• We also ask ourselves whether this thesis on the apparent universality of the theory of the people's war is not closely connected with the basic position of the CPN(M) on "Maoism", which is considered by the party as the next and higher stage of marxism-leninism? The propagation of "Maoism", the elevation of Mao Tse-tung to the "fifth classic of Marxism", and "the ideas of Mao Tse-tung" to the 3rd stage of Marxism, whereby Leninism is "pushed aside", are all closely associated with a careless degradation of Stalin. We would like to point out that Mao Tse-tung himself, with typical communist modesty, defined his role as that of a student of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin in numerous statements. He explicitly placed himself on the ground of scientific communism, with the ideas of principally Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
Our assessment of the ideas and works of Mao Tse-tung
In 1981, Gegen die Strömung formulated a thesis-like "General Evaluation of the Teachings and the Works of Mao Tse-tung" based on a detailed study of the theory and practice of Mao Tse-tung. This formed the starting point for further discussion with the following central points:
• Mao Tse-tung's marxist-leninist works concerning the democratic revolution and the people's war must be defended without reservation.
• In the period 1955-1965, Mao Tse-tung's thoughts on the transition from the democratic to the socialist revolution and by way of the dictatorship of the proletariat are unclear and contradict in parts marxism-leninism.
• Attacks by revisionists intending to condemn Mao Tse-tung are predominantly aimed at the people's democratic revolution and the teachings of the people's war.
• Mao Tse-tung was an exceptional student of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. Nevertheless, taking into account the grave errors he made in the period 1955-1965, he cannot be considered a classic of marxism-leninism.
Based on the well-known, rich in proof and verifiable theory and practice of Mao Tse-tung, we feel compelled to come to the following conclusion:
• Mao Tse-tung as a great marxist-leninist successfully applied the teachings of marxism-leninism to the democratic stage of the Chinese revolution.
• During a later stage (1955-1965), Mao Tse-tung represented several serious revisionist positions concerning the socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat.
• However, these errors do not justify though, a denial of Mao Tse-tung's extraordinary accomplishments, especially given his propagation of the "all-round dictatorship over the bourgeoisie" after 1966. In particular, Mao Tse-tung was at the forefront of the enthusiastic struggle against bureaucracy and revisionism in the Cultural Revolution. Nevertheless, this did contain some serious flaws.
We therefore decisively reject the view that Mao Tse-tung held false and revisionist positions over a long period of time, nor do we portray him as a "degenerate", as a revisionist after 1935, nor do we accept that he was always a revisionist right from the beginning.
Likewise we refuse to defend all of Mao Tse-tung's viewpoints and his political line as a whole and to propagate this as being in agreement with marxism-leninism or even its development to a "3rd stage of marxism"..
Some facts and figures about Nepal
Geography
Nepal covers a total area of about 147,000 km2. It is situated between India in the South and China in the North. It can be divided into three natural zones: the valleys bordering India; Kathmandu Valley, which contains the few cities of Nepal; and the Himalaya region, in which some mountains reach as high as over 8,000 m.
Around 45 % of the population live in the mountain regions, comprising 68 % of the total surface area, and 45 % live in the valleys. Some regions are often almost completely cut off from the outside world, and can generally only be reached on foot. Only 22 % of the land can be farmed. Nepal has approximately 13,500 km of roads, including around 5,000 km which can hardly be practicable. There are no navigable rivers and Nepal only has one railway, 50 km in length, near the border with India.
Population
Nepal has a population of 25 million, approx. 1 million of whom live in the capital, Kathmandu.
The population of Nepal comprises a number of different nationalities, sub-populations and religious castes, which have traditionally lived in separate regions and have their own individual language and culture. The state religion is Hinduism. Nepal proclaims itself as "the only Hindu kingdom in the world", and is ruled by a king considered as an incarnation of the deity.
Right at the top of the religious caste system are the Bahun (Brahmins or the "priestly caste"), followed by the Chhetris (the "warrior caste") and the Thakuris. Next come the minorities - the Magars, Gurungs, Tamangs, Newars, Thaurus etc., and the lower castes, right down to the "untouchables" - the Kami, Damai, Badi, Dalit and Sarki. Membership of the Bahun, Chhetri or Thakuri caste is the key for access to important positions within the state apparatus. Even in this day and age, the majority of the higher positions in the army are in the hands of the
Chhetri. Those in power have subjected minorities and the lower castes, especially the "untouchables" to special forms of harassment and suppression, stirring up a kind of Hindu-Nepalese chauvinism. According to Nepalese newspapers, the Badi children, counted amongst the "untouchables", are not allowed to sit on benches nor drink from taps at school, according to their parents. These children are also abused by other pupils and discriminated by teachers (Kathmandu Post, 8/23/04). In September 2004, more than 500 "untouchables" belonging to the Dalit caste, mostly women, went on a 48 hour hunger strike to fight for the abolition of untouchability and its consequences in the district of Saptari.
More than 30 different languages are spoken in Nepal. Only around 60 % of the population speak the official language of Nepali - a variant of Sanskrit brought over from India by the Bahun and Chhetri. Other languages spoken in Nepal include Maithili (12%), Bhojpuri (8%) and Tharu (6%).
Almost 40 % of the population live under the "poverty line", as measured according to official imperialist criteria. The illiteracy rate is very high, especially amongst women, and stands at approx. 60 %.
Only 10 % of the country has electricity. The state of health care is catastrophic: There is one doctor for every 16,600 inhabitants. At present, there are at least 40,000 inhabitants for each of the 50 practicing dentists - mostly based in the towns and cities.
In the past, the precarious working and living conditions have forced many people to emigrate. This continues to be the case. Currently, around 4-5 million work migrants live in India or in the Gulf States. Most of this seasonal or short-term migration involves male workers from the rural areas of Nepal, who leave their families behind and whose wives are left to perform the arduous work on the leasehold land alone.
The vast majority of Nepalese technicians and experts are educated in India, which plays an important role in education and culture in Nepal. Tribhuvan, the first university to be established in Nepal was done so with Indian aid. Engineers, advisers, teachers, trainers, architects etc. from India are sent to the different educational establishments in Nepal, while thousands of Nepalese students, both male and female, go to India to study.
State apparatus, repression and militarization
The Nepalese regime of feudal large landowners and the compradors, who are dependent on imperialism, suppress and terrorize the democratic anti-feudal and anti-imperialist insurgency.
Freedom of the democratic press has been curtailed. Government opponents in prison include 14 journalists (2004). The 30 daily and weekly newspapers are published with limited circulation, and the total circulation for all newspapers is approximately 250,000. All radio stations are state-controlled without exception-private stations were banned in 2001 as part of the counterinsurgency of 2001.
Blockades, strikes and demonstrations are suppressed by the army and the police, those involved are arrested, shots are fired at unarmed masses. Arbitrary arrests and incarcerations, especially for reasons of "preventative custody", are intended to deter and intimidate people. Not infrequently, those arrested are executed by the army without trial. The systematic abuse and torture of prisoners is widespread. The Nepalese counter-revolution is responsible for the mass "disappearance" of prisoners. According to information provided by the London headquarters of "amnesty international", more people disappear in Nepal than anywhere else on the planet.6 The number of democratic and revolutionary prisoners in Nepal is unknown, officially the figure stands at several hundreds, though the real figure is much higher. Instead of being detained in prisons, prisoners are often held in the "safe custody" of the army, paramilitary or the regular police force, and are locked up in barracks.
The reactionary Indian state, which has traditionally seen Nepal as the backyard in which to pursue its own expansionist interests, provides support for the Nepalese counter-revolution. Some fighters of the Nepalese liberation movement are held in India, including Gaurav, a leading comrade of the PLA (People's Liberation Army) of the CPN(M). He was arrested in India in November 2003, and has remained in prison since. Other prisoners, such as comrades Matrika Yadav, Suresh Ale Magar, or Kiran were extradited to Nepal after being arrested.
Especially in rural areas, the police and army handle insurgents with extreme brutality, cowardly massacring unarmed villagers suspected of being "sympathizers with the guerrillas", even using artillery to pound whole villages. The Nepalese army (the Royal Nepali Army - RNA) is a professional army with around 50,000 soldiers. For two centuries, command of the army has been reserved for the semi-regal warrior caste, the Khas-Thakuri. The Nepalese army is partly trained by members of the Indian army.
Alongside the army, there is also the military mercenary tradition of the "Ghurkhas", which have served with the British army since the 19th century, and which have also fought alongside Indian army units since 1948. In Kosova in 1999 for example, these units fought in the service of British imperialism.7 Since the imposition of a state of emergency in November 2001, the "Ghurkhas" have also been officially employed in the struggle against the Nepalese liberation movement.
As well as the army, there is also a 15,000 strong paramilitary special police force (the Armed Police Force - APF), which is used as a reactionary tool of suppression, and a regular police force numbering around 13,000. Since 2002, the Nepalese Secret Service (NIID) has been receiving "support" from US-imperialism, via the FBI, for "the fight against terrorism".
Economy
The vast majority of Nepalese are peasants: around 90 % of the population is employed in agriculture. Whilst 10% of the population controls 50 % of the land, 50 % of the Nepalese peasants have to share 7 % of the land.
80 % of the rural population are landless peasantry, who, as tenants, are required to pass on half of what they produce to "their" large landowner, or rural workers who are exploited in plantations. Feudalist bonded labor is widespread, the fate of many families has been at the hands of their large landowners for centuries. There are scarcely any factories in Nepal and the number of workers in the country is extremely low.
Even according to official data, Nepal's population is one of the poorest in the world, with an average annual income per capita of less than € 250. Nepal is heavily indebted to the imperial great powers who have created a dense network of financial enslavement through loans and "development aid". Nepal's foreign debt rose from US $ 3 million in 1970 to over $ 205 million in 1980, to $ 2,700 million in 2001. Nepal's export goods include carpets, textiles and agricultural products, while expensive machines, transport equipment and chemical and pharmaceutical products must be imported.
Sources: Fischer Weltalmanach 2004; de.wikipedia.org; auswaertiges-amt.de; deutsche-botschaft-kathmandu.org.np.
German imperialism - the deadly enemy of the fighting worker masses of Nepal
After India and the USA, Germany is the third most important buyer of Nepali products (approx. 24 %), mostly textiles and carpets. In terms of imports - which include machinery, electronic and medical equipment and chemicals9 - German imperialism ranks 13th. German imperialism is less active in Nepal in terms of goods export, more so in capital export, predominantly by way of extortionate loans. The biggest project so far under the banner of "development aid" is the 70 MW Marsyangdi hydropower plant, which was funded with approx. € 100 million provided by the German bank "Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau" (KfW). Alongside these independent projects, German imperialism is also active within the EU, especially in infrastructure projects, in which there are plans to spend approx. € 75 million between 2002 and 2007.10
German imperialism also makes its presence felt in the guise of "development aid specialists", the "Deutsche Welle", "Goethe-Institute" and "Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung". Some 60 "development aid workers" are currently working in Nepal, including around 30 from the "German Development Service" (DED) and 16 from the "Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit" (GTZ). No doubt, our comrades in Nepal see through the humanitarian hypocrisy of German imperialism. In May 2004, the GTZ suspended numerous aid projects in Western Nepal due to "increasing Maoist threats".
The machinations of the German imperialists reached the "front pages" in Nepal in 2001, when around 75 tons of used pesticide was found in storage halls in around Kathmandu, in poorly sealed, leaky containers, ripped and burst sacks. This toxic waste came from Sandoz, Shell, Union Carbide and also the German company Bayer. Most of this waste - some of which has been banned in Europe or internationally since the 70s - were brought to Nepal by these companies as development aid, either "donated" or sold to the Nepali government. Other items found were very old gas cylinders containing methyl bromide from the German gas supplier, Linde Spezialgase AG. Other German suppliers of toxic waste include the former Hoechst AG and the Urania Spiess chemical company. All of this toxic waste was imported to Nepal 20 to 30 years ago.11
German imperialism is active in Nepal as one of the largest exporters of arms. It is directly involved in the suppression of the liberation movement as a supplier of arms and ammunition which is directed against it. Even as far back as the end of the 1960's, the state-run "Fritz-Werner-lndustrie-Ausrustungen" set up a munitions factory in Nepal.12 In 1999 and 2000, approval was won for the export of production equipment for small caliber ammunitions and a ballistic measuring system worth around € 1,35 millions to Nepal.13 In February 2002, the British military magazine Jane's Defense Weekly reported that Nepal had ordered 65,000 ultramodern G-36 automatic assault rifles from Heckler & Koch. Just one year earlier, Nepal ordered a maintenance and repair workshop for the rifles, costing five million dollars.14 Even though the purchase of the G-36 weapons was officially put on ice in August 2002, the G-36 has already had a "baptism of fire" in Nepal: According to information provided by the Indian magazine "Frontline", this type of weapon was used by the crown prince of Nepal Dipendra to kill his father and king of Nepal, various relatives and ultimately himself on 1st July 2001.
* * *
All of these machinations carried out by German imperialism in Nepal must be exposed and combated. However, we can only really assess the importance of such maneuvers when seen in a broader context: the strategic interests of German imperialism in the Central- and South-Asian region, in competition with the other imperialist great powers. In this respect, German imperialism has made further advances in recent years with stationing some 2,000 German soldiers in Afghanistan in its role as military occupation force, with stationing around 2,000 soldiers in Uzbekistan, with greater influence in China and with its traditionally strong contacts with the anti-British and anti-American power elite in India.
1 jW, 2/7/05.
2 awtw.org News Service.
3 banladeshjournal.com.
4 awtw.org News Service.
5 eiaiis.com/stories/2005/03/05; kantipuronline.com.
6 ai-Journal December 2004/January 2005.
7 suedasien.net.
8 globaldefence.net.
9 ngcci.org/politischundwirtschaftlich.htm and 1 lsfn.de.
10 deutschebotschaft-kathmandu.org.np/de/wirt-schaft/zusammenarbeit/index.html.
11 greenpeace.org/deutschland/?page=/deutschland/pe/chemie/nepal; bayer-gift-zurueck-an-dt-botschaft.
12 gfbv.de/bestell/pogrom/texte/ 228_deliusl.htm.
13 BZ, 3/6/02; bits.de/public/articles/ bz060302_2.htm.
14 sopos.org/aufsaetze/3cc9a3386d08b.
info@gegendiestroemung.org
Advertisement .
Georgi Dimitroff Bookstore
- Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin - available in several languages.
- Writings of communism and the Communist International - available in several languages.
- Revolutionary working-class novels.
- Antifascist and anti-imperialist literature.
- Literature and material for the struggle against racism, anti-semitism, racism against Cinti and Roma people, against German chauvinism and nationalism.
- Possibility to browse and discuss.
Georgi Dimitroff Bookstore
Speyerer Str. 23 D-60327 Frankfurt/M. Germany
Fax: +49 / (0)69 / 73 09 20
open: Saturday 10 am - 1 pm
info@buchladengeorgidimitroff.org
