Theocratic monarchy continues slide into destruction in Nepal

As of February 21, an anti-monarchy blockade in Nepal has reportedly been successful for over a week now, with most transportation to and from Nepal's cities at a standstill. Combined with the god-king's attempt at cutting off the country's communications for everybody, we can only imagine the seriousness of the situation; yet, we are confident that such a reactionary regime can only be headed for the garbage can, even if it's a garbage can in a kitchen with no telephone, no trucks going by and the power out.

The first day of the blockade, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) reported only 137 vehicles' passing through the main checkpoint into Kathmandu, compared with 1659 the previous day. (1) Efforts by the RNA to escort traffic through have been met by guerilla attacks, forcing a show of weakness by the monarchy. "A very large force has now been dedicated just to keeping a couple of arterial routes for the supply of goods to Kathmandu open, which means that you have in fact withdrawn a substantial force from counter-insurgency operations," said Ajay Sahni of New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management. (2)

In India, where many Nepalese have been forced to migrate to try to escape oppressive poverty, thousands of concerned South Asians in New Delhi marched to the Indian Parliament to demand an end to the Nepalese monarchy that India has supported through military supplies and training. The role of India in Nepal's affairs is illustrated in the tradition whereby the chief of the Indian Army holds the position of Honorary General of the RNA. (3)

What's NOT being reported?

Amnesty International was in Nepal last week and followed up with a typical report where they equally condemn the Maoists and the semi-feudal regime for humyn rights abuses; putting the assassination of cops and politicians on par with (more common) disappearances of activists and the rape and slaughter of villagers. But the report also says, "that the main restrictions [to the media after February 1] are on reporting criticisms of the King or the state of emergency, information about loss of life among the security forces, or any information that may reduce the morale of the security forces."(4)

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), "a statutory body that is mandated to carry out investigations and report on the human rights situation," expressed concern that by law, only its reports condemning Maoists will be reported. (4) In light of these restrictions, one would question the context and validity of the report by pro-monarchist mouthpiece "The Rising Nepal," that locals killed one Maoist during the blockade, while another died in a botched bombing attempt. (5)

This, of course, is just a more blatant example of media self-censorship that occurs around the world. The bourgeois media will always embellish reports of alleged atrocities committed by revolutionaries, while ignoring those of their own puppets. This is their class interest manifested through their ownership of the media. But this point is especially worth making in a situation where we are attempting to figure out what's going on on the opposite side of the globe, where most newspapers and radio stations have been shut down, and telephone and Internet connections are still cut in some regions.

For us distant Westerners, we can assume a certain portion of reports like these are just wrong, but the overall class situation certainly spells doom for the theocratic monarchists and other lackeys of semi-feudalism. This is a prediction we can make based on the trend of world history away from semi-feudalism. The world capitalist system benefitted greatly from Japan's, southern Korea's and Taiwan's elimination of semi-feudalism after World War II, but the imperialists still can't tell which way the wind blows. It's been over 50 years since Mao led his people to wipe out semi-feudalism in China, but the imperialists go on wasting money and lives in a futile and immoral attempt to stave off the inevitable.

International pressure increases

While the Maoists push the crisis in Nepal, the imperialists are making a show of increasing pressure on Gyanendra to restore pseudo-democracy. The United $tates has threatened to withhold a proposed $1.5 million dollars in military aid (a drop from last year's $4.5 million) if he does not address the questions of: "restoration of constitutional freedom, releasing of political detainees and beginning of a process to reach out to political parties." Britain and India have joined these demands, with Britain reviewing its proposed contribution of $12 million in military aid for 2005. (6)

With all the Bu$h propaganda about the "war on terror," it's not an ideal situation for the imperialists that Bu$h has to cover his rear-end with a god-king. It's tough to argue about all the "freedom" the "terrorists" are supposedly trying to oppose by looking at Nepal the way Bu$h has in the past. Eventually, the truth might leak out and make Bu$h look bad, so ideally, Bu$h would like to see the god-king win quickly, put in a parliamentary democracy and retire to Hawaii. Nonetheless, in some situations, we can be sure the imperialists would decide to put forward shameless lies about non-existent freedom in Nepal.

The imperialists and India are reluctant to withdraw aid to the theocratic monarchy as a Maoist victory will not only restrict access to Nepal's economy, but also uprisings in India would likely find inspiration from the example in Nepal. For the rulers of India, the writing is on the wall, as it has been since Mao's victory in 1949.

As MIM has described in previous articles, the imperialists have few qualms about backing the most backwards regimes they can when the other option is allowing the people to take power.(7) However, sending money to a semi-feudal ruling class might prove embarrassing in light of George Bush's recent crusade to bring "democracy" to the whole world. Therefore, the united $tates and Britain (which is an even bigger funder of the god-king's regime) need to at least pay lip service to demands to cut off military funding to Nepal, a demand that is the duty of all internationalists in the imperialist countries.

U.$. Congress interests are split

In the midst of mass round-ups of activists and even reactionary politicians, destruction of the press and the elimination of any democratic facade in Nepal, Congresspeople in the united $tates are busy petitioning King Gyanendra to reopen the offices of the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office and the Dalai Lama's office in Nepal. (8)

Just as the united $tates supported (and continues to support) the feudal rule of the Dalai Lama in opposition to the Maoists in China in the 1950s, the semi-feudal exploitation of the Nepalese people interests them little. This indicates that Tibet continues to be a strategic issue in the u.$. struggle to control stability of the current capitalist regime in China. The office closures in Nepal may in fact have been a concession to China by Gyanendra in return for China's dubious denouncement of the People's War as being led by ultraleftists and terrorists misappropriating Mao Zedong's name. (9) In the hypothetical situation where China actually gave aid to their Maoist ideological enemies in Nepal, realistically, the other imperialists would have to negotiate an exit. China also has cards to play through the parliamentary UML party that is pro-China but anti-revolution.

So though the whole world is currently governed by parasites of one kind or another, they can never enjoy a completely common agenda. Thus the u.$. imperialists have to decide which to prioritize--keeping China and even the UML party on the sidelines in Nepal or pecking at Tibet to destabilize capitalist China. It seems to MIM, that no matter what, the imperialists have probably miscalculated. They're not going to be able to play the whole board--Taiwan, Tibet and Nepal.

Currently, the semi-feudal regime's actions in Nepal are pushing the democratic forces to unite with the Maoist demand for a New Democratic republic. However, India, Britain and the united $tates are surely discussing who can take the god-king's place before the conflict in Nepal reaches its inevitable conclusion. If they are willing, they can quickly buy the allegiance of one of the parliamentary groups to back in a new bourgeois democratic government. Of course no one they offer up can replace the Maoists in meeting the needs of the people. Therefore, intervention in Nepal can at worst delay the victory of the People's War, it can not stop it.

Notes:
(1) Al Jazeera, 14 February 2005. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/900CCA37-D7DC-4046-847D-622B8A3FE0FF.htm
(2) Pasricha, Anjana. Rebel blockade of Nepalese capital turns deadly. 21 February 2005.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-69TLMU?OpenDocument (3) South Asia Tribune, 6 February 2005.
http://www.satribune.com/archives/200502/P1_arun4.htm
(4) Report of Amnesty International, 10 16 February 2005. http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=5DC1B686C289549B80256FAC0047D8FC
(5) The Rising Nepal, 21 February 2005. http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/pageloader.php?file=2005/02/22/topstories/main3
(6) Defensenews.com, 18 February 2005. http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=668751&C=america
(7) MIM. http://www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/countries/nepal/nepalkingfeb05.html
(8) Radio Free Asia, 21 February 2005. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/2005/02/21/nepal_us/
(9) MIM Notes 258, 15 May 2002.