June 22, 2009
The Spark June 2009
Alastair Reith
The last time The Spark carried news from Nepal, the story was positive. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had been elected to government with just under forty percent of the seats (more than the next two parties put together). Its leader Prachanda was Prime Minister. Previous to this, it had waged a decade long People’s War that liberated eighty percent of the countryside and radicalised the workers and peasants of the country in support of revolutionary change. Under the slogan of a new Nepal, the Maoist-led government attempted to bring about land reform, build national industry, empower and improve the lives of workers, and fight against the domination of foreign imperialism, and Indian expansionism. However, this article describes events of a much less positive nature.
Over the past months, the Maoist government has been almost completely unable to advance its revolutionary programme due to the resistance of its coalition partners. At every turn, it found its progressive efforts blocked by the non-revolutionary parties it had formed a government with. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 17, 2009
Film screening Blockhouse Bay Community Hall Sunday 1 March 2009
Maina is based on the real story of a 15 year old girl from a remote village in Nepal. She was arrested by the Royal Nepal Army and brutally killed. Maina Sunar’s case got attention because of the struggle of her mother, Debi, to find out what had happened to her daughter. Debi’s single-handed fight for justice when she found out Maina had been tortured and murdered got full media attention. The Nepali Times describes the film as “gritty in its cinematography, portraying the stark reality of rural Nepal in a time of war”.
The premier showing of this moving story was inaugurated by Nepal’s new Prime Minister Prachanda.
‘I began thinking of making the film in 2006, (after the fall of King Gyanendra’s army-backed government),’ said Pathak, who, as a communist filmmaker took part in the anti-king protests that rocked Nepal in April 2006.
‘Even after the restoration of democracy, the killers got away scot-free, impunity flourished and there was still no rule of law. I made the film to pressure the government into punishing Maina’s killers, to serve as a reminder to the political parties how things are during a dictatorial regime.’Nepali filmmaker K.P. Pathak chose Maina’s story among the tens of thousands of wrenching tales of torture, executions and disappearances to make ‘Maina’, the first Nepali film to look at the conflict in Nepal and its legacy through the eyes of the victim’s family. (sulekha.com)
scene where army seize Maina at her home
English subtitles
Screening at Blockhousebay Community Hall Sunday 1 March 2009. Show will start at 6:45pm 524 Blockhouse Bay Road, Blockhouse Bay, Auckland . Fundraiser: $10 entry
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December 2, 2008
-Alastair Reith
The Spark December 2008-January 2009
Ever since the destruction of the Soviet Union, the capitalist class has told us that communism is dead. We are expected to believe that this is as good as it gets, that the inequality and oppression inherent within the capitalist system will be with us forever and there will be no more revolutions. The ruling class declared the end of history. Unfortunately for them, the people of Nepal have decided not to listen.
The red flag flies from Mt Everest
A communist revolution is unfolding in Nepal, a small Himalayan country just to the North of India. Led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the workers and peasants of Nepal are rising up and challenging the feudal oppression they face in their daily lives, and the neo-colonial domination they face as a nation.
The last time the Spark published news of the revolution in Nepal, the results of the Constituent Assembly elections had just come in. Despite the corporate media predictions that the Maoists would come in a dismal third place, the Maoists shocked the world by winning a landslide victory, taking 220 out of 575 seats, making them by far the largest party in the Assembly, with more seats than the next two largest parties combined! The elections revealed the level of mass support the Maoists have amongst the people.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Nepal, Revolutionary Strategy, Workers in Struggle | Tagged: Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Nepal | 
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June 25, 2008
In this talk Babu Maharjan presents a brief history of the people’s war in Nepal that has led to expulsion of the monarchy and overwhelming success for the revolutionary party in the first fully-democratic election in that country, in which it gained a majority. Recording also includes lengthy Q&A session. Recorded at Marxism 2008
Download the MP3 here
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Posted by Byron
June 6, 2008
- Alastair Reith
In the past month or so, elections took place in three very different countries, far away from one another, with distinctly different languages, cultures and histories. These countries did have some things in common. All were all poor, third-world countries, whose people live in poverty and oppression, and they all voted against the regimes and systems they currently live under.
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Leave a Comment » | Elections, Nepal, Tonga, Zimbabwe | Tagged: Nepal Elections, Tonga Elections, Zimbabwe elections | Permalink
Posted by WP Admin
April 26, 2008
- Daphna Whitmore
Some walked for miles to cast their vote. It was soon clear millions had voted for radical change in Nepal. The Maoists are by far the largest party in the Constituent Assembly and have promised to end the feudal-monarchy and to mobilise against poverty and repression.
The groundswell began in 1996 with a Maoist-led armed struggle in the rural areas. Within a decade they had established Red Zones in 80 percent of the countryside. Land reforms, campaigns for women’s equality, literacy drives and new infrastructure projects changed the physical and political landscape.
Jared Phillips from the Workers Party travelled to Nepal in 2003 and was one of the first Westerners to visit the Red Zones. He was impressed by what he saw and spoke of the women’s movement there. “It is one of the most advanced in the world today” he said. “The difference between the situation of women in the liberated areas and women in old Nepal was mind-blowing. In Kathmandu women were like slaves to the men; waiting on them hand and foot. Walking along the street women would have their eyes to the ground. What a contrast it was in the Red Zones. Women would come up and give the clench-fist salute and shake my hand saying ‘Lal Salaam’, which means red salute. They were very confident, and self-assured.”
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Posted by WP Admin
April 16, 2008
Press Release
The Workers Party (NZ) welcomes the victory of the Maoists in the
Nepalese elections. Jared Phillips, a Workers Party activist who
spent four weeks in the Red Zones of Nepal in 2003, meeting with
activists and leaders of the Maoist movement and witnessing first-
hand the progressive reforms being implemented in the rural areas
led by the Maoists, says the election victory is “a blow against
under-development, poverty, and repression, and is a stride forward
for liberation everywhere.”
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8 Comments | Elections, Nepal | Tagged: CPN (M), Nepal, Nepal Elections | Permalink
Posted by Byron
April 13, 2008
In Nepal Maoists have won a huge vote in historic elections. In the lead up to the polls bourgeois commentators forecast a poor showing for the Maoists. They were victims of their own propaganda and completely out of touch with the situation. The polls reveal mass support for the revolutionaries.
Prachanda, the chairman of the Maoist party, won a seat in the heart of Kathmandu with nearly double the vote of his nearest rival. In Gorka, Babburam Bhattarai, the party’s other top leader, took the biggest majority in the country with a 40,000 vote lead on his nearest rival. The defeat for the establishment has been humiliating. Their leaders have lost seats: such as Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of the United Marxist Leninists (UML – a conservative party, despite the name); Shusil Koirala, acting president of Nepal Congress Party; Bam Dev Gautam, senior leader of UML and Khum Bhadur Khadka, senior leader of the Nepal Congress Party the main feudal party.
Observers say the elections have been conducted well. There were 100,000 election observers posted around Nepal. Out of a total of 20,889 polling stations only 75 reported irregularities and will be polling again. Over 60 percent turned out to vote which is pretty impressive for a country with 50 percent illiteracy.
Results are being announced as the votes are counted; even remote villages are getting progress reports on the hour through PA systems. Around the country people are tuning in to FM stations to hear the latest count. A website www.election.gov.np is being regularly updated as the counting goes on. Some violence was reported and, as usual, the establishment tried to put the blame on the Maoists. But the facts speak louder: in the month leading up to the elections 6 Maoist candidates were killed by opposition forces. The Maoists did not retaliate, they insisted they were committed to a peaceful election.
The election results will take some days to be finalised but the signs are that Nepal will have a radical new government.
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Posted by Tim B
February 4, 2008
Daphna Whitmore
Nepal is gearing up for elections in April. The monarchy will be dissolved, ending its 300-year reign, and elected representatives will draft a constitution. The elections are part of a peace package which suspended an eleven-year people’s war led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Is this an inspired move by the Maoists to spread their revolution or are they on a course to capitulation?
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Posted by Tim B
