[lit-ideas] Nepal: an old-fashioned revolution
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 21:00:59 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1760683,00.html
This is no rah-rah revolt
Nepalese have lost their fear of repression and are
making a genuine, old-fashioned revolution
Tariq Ali
Tuesday April 25, 2006
The Guardian
There is something refreshingly old-fashioned taking
place in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal: a genuine
revolution. In recognition of this, the US has told
citizens except for "essential diplomats" to leave the
country, usually a good sign. Since April 6, Nepal has
been paralysed by a general strike called by the
political parties and backed by Maoist guerrillas.
Hundreds of thousands are out on the streets - several
have been shot dead and more than 200 wounded. A
curfew is in force and the army has been given
shoot-to-kill orders.
But the people have lost their fear and it is this
that makes them invincible. If a single platoon
refuses to obey orders, the Bastille will fall and the
palace will be stormed. Another crowned head will fall
very soon. A caretaker government will organise free
elections to a constituent assembly, and this will
determine the future shape of the country.
The lawyers, journalists, students and the poor
demonstrating in Kathmandu also know that if they are
massacred, the armed guerrillas who control 80% of the
countryside will take the country. This is not one of
those carefully orchestrated "orange" affairs with its
mass-produced placards, rah-rah gals and giant PR
firms to aid media coverage, so loved by the
"international community". Nor does the turbulence
have anything to do with religion. What is taking
place in Nepal is different: it is the culmination of
decades of social, cultural and economic oppression.
This is an old story. Nepal's upper-caste Hindu rulers
have institutionalised ancient customs to preserve
their own privileges. Only last year was the custom of
locking up menstruating women in cowsheds declared
illegal.
The Nepalese monarchy, established more than two
centuries ago, has held the country in an iron grip,
usually by entering into alliances with dominant
powers - Britain, the US and, lately, India - and
keeping them supplied with cheap mercenaries. It is a
two-way trade and ever since the declaration of the
"war on terror", the corrupt and brutal royal
apparatus has been supplied with weaponry by its
friends: 20,000 M-16 rifles from Washington, 20,000
rifles from Delhi and 100 helicopters from London.
Meanwhile, half the country's 28 million people have
no access to electricity or running water, let alone
healthcare and education, according to the UN.
In 2005, King Gyanendra suspended all civil liberties
and outlawed politics. To deal with a problem that was
essentially structural, but which in the global
context of neoliberalism could not be solved through
state intervention, he decided on mass repression:
physical attacks on the poor, concerted attempts to
stamp out dissident political organisations and
blanket social repression. The chronicle of shootings,
beatings, imprisonments, purges and provocations is
staggering. The sheer ferocity of his assault took the
tiny middle class by surprise and isolated the
politicians.
Will the triumvirate - the US, the EU and the UN
security council - try to keep the king in power? If
it does, it will have to add Kathmandu to a growing
list of disasters. Recent newspaper editorials
indicate that the west fears the disease may spread to
neighbouring India. A top-level summit between the
Naxalites and civil servants after the defeat of the
BJP government revealed a remarkably pragmatic Maoist
leadership: all it wanted was for the government to
implement the constitution and pledges contained in
successive Congress manifestos.
What the uprising in Nepal reveals is that while
democracy is being hollowed out in the west, it means
more than regular elections to many people in the
other continents. The Nepalese want a republic and an
end to the systemic poverty that breeds violence and
to achieve these moderate demands they are making a
revolution.
· Tariq Ali is an editor of New Left Review
tariq.ali3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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