Dispatches: Report from the People's War in Nepal
Part 6:
General Strike in KathmanduBy Li Onesto
Revolutionary Worker #1019, August 22, 1999
On February 13, 1996, a new People's War was launched in Nepal, led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), aimed at sweeping away imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. Thousands of men and women participated in coordinated armed raids and attacks throughout the country. And for over three years now, the revolution in Nepal has continued to spread, sink roots and accomplish a lot. All this is a truly inspiring and significant development in the world and for the international proletariat. But it has remained a hidden story for most people in the United States and around the world. And for those of us who have been following the people's war in Nepal, there has been precious, but far too little news of this important struggle.
Now, the Revolutionary Worker has an exclusive story. RW reporter Li Onesto recently returned from several months in Nepal, where she traveled throughout the country with the people's army, meeting and talking with party leaders, guerrillas, activists in mass organizations and villagers--those waging this genuine Maoist people's war and beginning to exercise new people's power. The RW would like to give a "lal Salaam" (red salute) to all the people in Nepal who made this trip possible.
This is the sixth article of a new series of dispatches from this exciting trip. (See RW #1014 through #1018 for Parts 1 through 5.)
Kathmandu Bandh
On Friday I get up early, anxious to witness my first bandh (general strike) in Nepal. The night before, a comrade told me that some kind of action by the guerrillas had just happened in the countryside, so I pick up the Kathmandu Post first thing. Sure enough, the front page headline is, "Maoists Kill Seven Policemen in Dang." The Post reports it as "the biggest setback ever to the police force since the Maoist insurgency first surfaced." The incident happened at the Chiragar police post in Shantinagar Village Development Committee (VDC), about 39 kilometers [24 miles] west of Ghorahi, the district headquarters. The Additional General of Police in charge of all operations against Maoists told the Post, "This incident indicates that the Maoists are gaining strength." The Deputy Inspector General of police of the Mid-Western Region, Sahabir Thapa, is quoted saying, "This incident is more serious than those which have occurred at other places." And the Post reports, "This is the biggest casualty the police have suffered in a single attack since the Maoists first burst onto the national stage in February 1996."
The Newa Khala (Newari Family) an association of the Newar nationality, an oppressed minority in Nepal, has called for a Kathmandu Valley-wide bandh (general strike). The newspapers report that this is a protest against increasing "terrorist activities, unemployment, and price hikes" and "discrimination based on race." [By "terrorist activities" they mean government repression against the people.] The news also reports the government Home Ministry has claimed that since Maoists are supporting the bandh it may not be "peaceful," and so police have already arrested more than 80 people who are accused of being involved in the bandh.
Today the streets look very, very different because most of the shopkeepers are observing the bandh. I hook up with a friend and we go out walking through the city. We walk over to New Road, which is a major thoroughfare with lots of stores. Hardly anything's open and the streets, while full of people walking, are empty of the usual barrage of taxis. I'm told that some people are exempt from the bandh--like rickshaw drivers, small sidewalk vendors and pharmacies. We go through an area which yesterday was jam-packed with pedestrians and heavy traffic. Now there's still lots of people walking about, but hardly any traffic on the road--only bicycles, motorcycles, and rickshaws. For Kathmandu, this looks very strange--and for once, it's almost safe to try and cross the street.
At a couple of major intersections I see, for the first time, the Nepali riot cops--the commandos, as they're called. A small group of them are standing in the middle of the street wearing their padded armor and helmets, carrying sticks. Later I see some commandos who are even more heavily fortified. Some of them have rifles and they are all wearing padded armor, not only around their bodies but all around the front of their legs--they look like weird armed hockey goalies. My friend tells me that there have been hundreds of arrests, most in the last 48 hours, in connection with the bombing incident and the bandh.
I notice red flags with a pen and star insignia high up on all the lampposts. My friend explains that this is the symbol of the Maoist student organization and that these flags have been put up by revolutionary students.
I had seen this symbol a few days before, when a friend took me to see some of the different colleges in Kathmandu. I was curious to see what kind of support there is among the students for the strike. At the first school we visited, there were posters up all over calling for the bandh. On one wall near the school, a large, neatly done wall painting said, "The government is killing people. The government is selling our water. Educated peoples are against the police. Different parties and all students should unite against the government." This was signed by the All Nepal Freedom Students Revolutionary Movement, the Maoist student group which supports the People's War. At the law school where students, almost all of them men, were hanging out, there were lots of posters put up by the reactionary, pro-government student group. But many of them seemed to be partially torn down or defaced and were interspersed among revolutionary posters.
The Kathmandu Post has an editorial today addressing the "growing problem of the Maoist insurgency." The commentary seems to reflect a growing concern in the government about how the people's war in the countryside is "encroaching" on the city. The editorial, titled "Different approach needed," starts off talking about the bombing earlier this week at the Home Secretary's residence--"only the latest among similar blasts that have rocked the city in the past few months." It then criticizes the "deteriorating law and order situation," the complete absence of security personnel at the residence, and the fact that the government doesn't have a clue about the people who did it. The editorial continues: "These blasts must necessarily be seen as part of the bigger picture of the Maoist insurgency, which the government has failed to contain through the use of force. The insurgency itself has its roots in the economic hardships, poverty, deprivation and exploitation that has been the lot of the majority of Nepalese. The fact that successive governments have failed to address these problems in the post-democracy era has further helped fuel the fires of insurgency in many areas of the country. Thus, it was only natural that many people should take to armed struggle against the glaring inequities and social injustice when the government failed to deliver or make any perceptible impacts felt in the backward regions of the country. It is therefore not at all surprising that insurgency, which was practically unheard of in the country prior to the restoration of democracy, should attain such threatening dimensions."
Such commentary frequents newspapers in Nepal these days--as the People's War advances and gains support among the masses, not only in the countryside, but also in the cities. The government needs to keep up its facade of "democracy"--especially with the coming elections. But they are also using the elections to try and rally support for vicious attacks against Maoists, in the name of keeping "law and order."
I take a two-hour walk in the afternoon to Lalitpur and, along the way, almost all the shops are closed and there are still no cars on the streets. If I had just arrived in Kathmandu today for the first time, I might have thought things were quiet but "normal"--it would not be readily apparent that a mass political protest is happening. The comrades tell me that in the cities, anti-government sentiment is pervasive, and there's a lot of support for the People's War. But there is also heavy government repression against anyone who openly sympathizes with Maoists. In such a situation the bandh is a mass form of protest that is so widespread it's hard for the government to single out and punish individual merchants. And this makes it easier for everyone to participate.
Newa Khala
After the bandh, I wanted to find out more about the Newa Khala, the association of Newar people which organized the bandh. I arrange an interview with Dilip Maharjan, the Chairperson of Newa Khala. After introductions and some words of greeting, Dilip Maharjan starts off by explaining the goals of the Newa Khala association, which was established only nine months ago:
"Our objective is to classify the problems that indigenous Newars are facing in Nepal and to organize different struggles to solve these problems. We especially organize Newars to make them aware of the oppression and suppression by the state power. We mainly concentrate on language, religion, cultural values, the economic downfall of the Newars and social domination by other religions--mainly the religions of the ruling class. The state power oppresses Newars in many ways. To understand this we need to go back to the history of Nepal. Nepal was divided into tiny kingdoms and was then united by ancestors of the present king with the formation of the central feudalistic government. The Newars were oppressed by the central state power. Before that Newars had their own kingdom, language, and culture. They were sound economically and culturally and had established a trade and business role in the trade route between China and India. And so they had a high status in the valley.
"The Newars have their own dignity and identification but because of the centralized government the Newars have been discriminated against. The Aryan and Hindu religions are considered to be superior and the government treats these people much better. In offices, schools, everywhere, the Nepali language is the national language and Newars have been forced to read in Nepali and can't read in our own tongue. Most Newars belong to the Buddhist religion but this is a Hindu state. Hindu religion, Nepali language, Aryans--all this is seen as superior. In this way, by law and in practice the Newars are being oppressed and face difficulty in maintaining our identification. The Newars are the indigenous people of the valley but are being displaced by Maruwaris (the business caste from India). Newars are not getting jobs, they have no opportunities to join the army and police or participate in politics. In this way Newars are discriminated against by the state power and we want to make this known and fight against it and fight for the security of our rights. The Newars are being oppressed by feudalism, capitalism and the intervention of imperialism."
"In Kathmandu city there was a decision that people could use the Newar language to solve problems--that if someone doesn't know Nepali they can appeal in their own language. But about one year ago, this was overturned by the Supreme Court which said we cannot use our own language and must use only Nepali. Now we can only do appeals in English or Nepali. Also, Newar children don't get any opportunity in school to learn their own language."
I tell Dilip that in the United States, oppressed nationalities also face systematic discrimination and suppression of their language and culture. And I tell him about how there has been mass struggle against government attacks on bilingual education, affirmative action and ethnic studies in the schools.
Dilip is eager to talk about the successful bandh and begins by explaining why they decided to call for this action:
"Our vision is that Newars won't have the right of self government and self determination and be able to preserve our language, culture, religion and traditions with the present state power. We called the Valley bandh program around 15 demands to the government with our main objective to pressure the government to meet the demands of self government and self determination. If the central government discriminates against the Newars then the Newars should have the right to their own government. One of the demands is for a secular state with all religions having equal rights. Our press c named different parties and individuals in support of the bandh, including CPN (Maoist), United Front Nepal, NCP (ML) and Mashal and Unity Center. Different forces united to support the strike. More than 80 percent of the people in the valley are Newar.
"For the strike, we prepared many pamphlets and 100,000 posters were distributed. We went house-to-house and met with community leaders to build support, held programs to build support, our leaders made appeals in interviews, etc. Other groups issued letters in support, including indigenous groups. More than 500 people were arrested (there could be even more, it is hard to assess). Our members and activists were arrested passing out leaflets and posters. There was government terror from the beginning, and leaders had to go underground. There have been widespread, indiscriminate arrests in the community to create an atmosphere of terror. People are still in jail."
I ask Dilip if there was support for the strike from other ethnic groups and he answers:
"There are fraternal relations with other organizations of oppressed nationalities. Our view is that only by being united can we get success. And we want to build mutual help in each other's struggles. We make clear that our vision is not according to caste or religion or community, but it is by class. Our vision is to look at this problem in a class way. We look at the oppressor caste people in a class way. We must protest against a kind of oppression that comes in the name of Indo-chauvinism. But this chauvinism exists among indigenous people and we have to struggle against this. Some Newars belong to oppressor classes. We are with the oppressed class. Chauvinism is expressed through the Hindu caste. We must have good relations with the oppressed and must make bad relations with the oppressors, even within the oppressed ethnic groups.
"There is big support for our demands and the bandh has opened the path for our organization to go to indigenous groups and say these are the demands of the people and we must fight. This was the first time a general strike around demands of the Newars has been organized in the valley. It was an historical event."
To be continued.
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