All Hail the People's Revolution in Nepal!

[chequita guevara]

I've always wanted to say something like that. Note the second half of the article. Apparently the US is going to get involved in helping yet another despotic regime.

=======

Nepal Rebels Attack Security Post; 100 Dead


May 8, 2002 9:09 am EST

By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) - Maoist guerrillas and government forces in Nepal fought a pitched battle that killed scores Wednesday, after a rebel raid that coincided with an offer of U.S. aid to the Himalayan kingdom.

The Maoists attacked a security post in their remote stronghold of Gam in the west, where troops killed up to 400 guerrillas last week in the biggest single offensive of the six-year rebellion.

"The raid came about midnight and we seem to have lost heavily," one army officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Communications have been cut and bad weather has prevented rescue helicopters from landing, senior army officers told Reuters, adding reinforcements were on the way.

"A large number of terrorists attacked a base using automatic weapons looted during recent raids on security agencies," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Fierce fighting between the security forces and the rebels is continuing," a ministry spokesman said in a statement but gave no casualty figures on either side.


But army officials said up to 100 rebels, police and soldiers were killed in the fierce firefight, about 450 km west of the capital, Kathmandu.

Interior Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka told Reuters in Kathmandu the government was awaiting detailed casualty figures.

"There were more than 140 soldiers and police officers at Gam and we have lost contact with them," he said, adding he could not say how many had died.

At least some police and soldiers were known to have survived the clash before communications were lost, the army said.

BUSH OFFERS HELP

At least four policemen and 14 rebels also died in separate fighting 250 miles east of Kathmandu late Tuesday and soldiers shot dead four guerrillas in another clash.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in the rebellion aimed at toppling the impoverished Hindu kingdom's constitutional monarchy and installing a communist republic.

President Bush told Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Washington Tuesday the United States would help Nepal against the rebels, Deuba said after the talks.

Neither side has said what form that help might take, but Nepal is seeking guns, ammunition, money and hardware -- including transport and combat helicopters -- from abroad.

The rebels intensified their campaign after last June's palace massacre in which popular king Birendra and most other members of the royal family were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra, who later shot himself dead.

Nepal has given its army sweeping powers under a state of emergency to crush the guerrillas since they walked out of peace talks in November. The Maoists offered to renew the talks last week but Deuba rejected this and demanded they surrender.

U.S. military experts visited Nepal recently to assess the impoverished South Asian nation's military needs and to gauge what support Washington could provide, officials said. The Bush administration is seeking $20 million from Congress to help Kathmandu fight the guerrillas.

The violence has wrecked the aid-dependent economy and driven away tourists, who are a key source of income to the picturesque nation that is home to Mount Everest and draws thousands of backpackers and mountain climbers each year.

[SlowwHand]

I didn't know there was an "H" in KatHmandu.
Apolyton expands so many horizons.

[Urban Ranger]

I thought you don't like Maoists, che

[Bas]

According to the PRC, they're fake Maoists anyway.

[chequita guevara]

Well, the PRC isn't really Maoist anymore anyways.

UR, I don't agree with their version of Marxism, and I think they're damned fools in developed nations. That doesn't mean that I don't recognize them as comrades in the struggle. I support the struggle of the oppressed to liberate themselves, even if I don't agree with the particular method they use.

In this case, however, I have to say I'm pretty impressed with them. They have taken great strides forward in the liberation of women, and from what I've seen and heard from comrades returning from the liberated areas, very democratic as well. Perhaps these comrades are a new kind of Maoist.



In other news, the government of Columbia is blaming the FARC for a massacre. Apparently the AUC and FARC were fighting in a town, and quite a number of civilians were killed. This smells. The FARC are not noted for committing massacres, while the AUC is only known for doing so (well, that, and being the armed forces of the drug lords).

[DinoDoc]

The Nepal government killed 350 rebels on the 4th. This seems to have been the rebels' answer for that attack.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Perhaps these comrades are a new kind of Maoist.

I doubt it.

Human rights group Amnesty International has accused both the security forces and the insurgents of killing civilians and committing other atrocities.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ists_killed_21

[Zoid]

USA should keep it´s dirty hands to themselves. They have no business supporting the outdated and extremly seclusive nepalese monarchy.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Kamrat X
They have no business supporting the outdated and extremly seclusive nepalese monarchy.

We should be supporting the outdated and extremely brutal Moaist rebels then?

[Adam Smith]

Originally posted by Kamrat X
USA should keep it´s dirty hands to themselves. They have no business supporting the outdated and extremly seclusive nepalese monarchy.

According to the BBC, Nepal is a constitutional monarchy.

Nepal has been under the sway of an hereditary monarchy or ruling family for most of its known history, largely isolated from the rest of the world.

A brief experiment with multi-party politics in 1959 ended with King Mahendra suspending parliament and taking sole charge.

Democratic politics was introduced in 1991 after popular protests - but it remains extremely factionalised with frequent changes of government.

the press is considered to enjoy a fair amount of freedom. A range of publications, from Maoist to monarchist, carry criticism of the government.

[chequita guevara]

The government has declared a state of emergency, cracking down on civil liberties.

[Garth Vader]

We should be supporting the outdated and extremely brutal Moaist rebels then?

Do you always have to support one side against another?

[chequita guevara]

I am of the opinion that left to themselves, oppressors are generally defeated by their own people. It's only when outsiders with interests come along and start mucking things up that it gets all complicated and bloody.


HANDS OFF NEPAL!

[*End Is Forever*]

The government has declared a state of emergency, cracking down on civil liberties.

Only because of the anti-democratic Communist rebels...

[chequita guevara]

Define anti-democratic.

[*End Is Forever*]

They shoot and blow up people to get their point across. I don't call that democratic.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Define anti-democratic.

This will do as a start.

[Sprayber]

*waits for che to downplay and rationalize the crimes of his pet revolutionaries*

[Adam Smith]

Let me just review the facts here for a minute.

The BBC says Nepal is a constitutinal monarchy with a fair amount of press freedom and criticism of the government. (See prior post)

Amnesty Intrenational notes that

The political situation turned a corner in May when elections resulted in the establishment of a majority government.

A BBC correspondent, interveiwing one of the Maoist rebel leaders reported that

He said the current ceasefire between Nepali Government forces and the rebels was not an obstacle to the Maoists' intention to take over the entire country.

Indeed he said this would just be a precursor to spreading the Maoist movement throughout the world.

When I accused Comrade Sizal of being slightly over-ambitious, he countered that this was a movement on the move.

After searching both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, I could find virtually nothing about Nepal prior to the Maoists declaring a "people's war" in early 1996.

So lets put the responsibility for the problems in Nepal right where it belongs, squarely on the backs of the Maoist rebels, AND STOP THE HORSESHIT RHETORIC BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS.

[Jon Miller]

I am actually not sure how geting involved in naple supports our interests

Jon Miller

[Urban Ranger]

It seems to me that the existence of armed rebels is a sign of major trouble in that country. In all likihood people are in deep resentment of the government. At least some of the people at any rate.

[chequita guevara]

There was quite a bit of non guerilla war activity in Nepal prior to the outbreak of People's War. The Maoists could never have gotten into the position of being able to launch such a war were the conditions in Nepal not ripe for one. Revolutionaries only grow when people resent their government.

As to AI's accusations, they are serious indeed, and I had not seen them prior to now. I find this rather troubling.

[Adam Smith]

So existence of armed opposition is proof of its validity?
Care to apply that argument to, say, right-wing "militias" in the US?

[chequita guevara]

I've never said the militias were wrong, just misguided. If they weren't so fired up about the UN or ZOG coming to take their democracy and way of life away from them, they might realize it's the corporations who've already done it.

[Sarxis]

Viva Napal! Viva Napal!

[Adam Smith]

What corporations?
The entire economy runs on small-scale agriculture, subsistence farming, and tourism.

Try again.

[Arrian]

AS,

He had shifted over to the militia crazies here in the US.

Che,

Sorry, but the info AS provided does seem to refute the "backing yet another despotic regime" claim. I do agree in general that less meddling would be good, however.

-Arrian

[VJ]

So lets put the responsibility for the problems in Nepal right where it belongs, squarely on the backs of the Maoist rebels, AND STOP THE HORSESHIT RHETORIC BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS.

[faded glory]

actually i agree with Che. Sort of. The people in Nepal are extremely poor. Change, either way may help. Thats all that matters.

As far as us getting involved. I doubt anything more than a few old choppers and rifles.

[faded glory]

Let me elaborate. The people live like ****. They dont have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. The king and a few others live lavishly.

Thy have some serouis grievances with the status quo