While the Maoists have earned applause around the world for their stunning victory in Nepal’s Constituent Assembly elections, spare a thought for the two defeated establishment parties — the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist-Leninists (UML) — whose wisdom, statesmanship and political courage helped a powerful rebel group come down from the mountains and enter power through the ballot box.
C’est un pays dont on n’entend jamais parler sauf quand il y a des escalades sur l’Everest. C’est un pays qui semble avoir été oublié par le temps. C’est un pays qui semble-t-il n’intéresse personne parce qu’il n’y a ni pétrole ni gaz. Pourtant dans ce pays se déroule sous nos yeux un tremblement de terre politique dont les répercussions dépassent de loin ses frontières.
The peaceful mass participation in the elections for a Constituent Assembly ("CA") in Nepal on April 10, 2008 was not only an historic achievement of the Nepalese people, but a reminder that the revolutionary process in Nepal deserves the close attention and eager assistance of every sincere Marxist.
As the elections to the constituent assembly draw near, the question in Nepal seems not to be whether there will be a democratic republic, but rather what kind of democratic republic it will be. “Bourgeois democrats” would want to preserve the country’s capitalistic character, while the “revolutionary left” will make every effort to give it a transitional character to bring socialism on to the nation’s agenda. “The reformist left” will vacillate between the two courses but predominantly forge alliances with the “bourgeois democrats”.
The citizens of Nepal go in for Constituent Assembly elections on April 10, to put in place a 601-member House that has the dual responsibility of drafting a new constitution and serving as Parliament during the interim. The Constituent Assembly is a necessary condition for the country to achieve political stability, sustainable peace and a return to pluralism, nine years after the last general elections.
The people of Nepal have triumphed. Last night (April 24, 2006) Nepal‚s dictator, King Gyanendra gave in to their demands. Bowing to the pressure of the mass movement the king declared his acceptance of the roadmap to peace drawn up by the Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists. He proclaimed the reinstatement of the parliament which was dissolved on May 22, 2004. He called, upon the Seven Party Alliance to bear the responsibility of taking the nation on the path to national unity and prosperity.
The compromise proposed by King Gyanendra of Nepal on Friday, April 21st evening, which envisages his continuance as a constitutional monarch, is a last-ditch attempt to perpetuate the old order. It will not satisfy the demand for the establishment of a true democracy in the country, for the fulfillment of which the nation has risen in a spontaneous and mass revolt.
I am writing this from Kathmandu. It is about 8.00 a.m. Nepal time. The entire valley was under curfew for 25 hours yesterday, April 20, 2006, the 15th day of the ongoing civic protest against the autoctraric king and his army. The curfew which was first clamped for 18 hours from 2.00 a.m. in tge morining of April 20, till 8.00 p.m. was extended till 3.00 a.m. to April 21. Now the king has announced reimposition of curfew from 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. Within another one hour the entire valley will be under curfew again.
Le 1er février 2005, le roi Gyanendra du Népal a usurpé tous les pouvoirs exécutifs de l’État en proclamant l’état d’urgence. Il justifie sa proclamation par l’échec des partis politiques à adopter une approche unifiée contre le terrorisme, leur incapacité à tenir des élections à temps et leur trahison des aspirations de justice sociale, politique et économique du peuple.
(Kathmandu, March 1, 2005) — The Royal Nepalese Army, which assisted King Gyanendra’s February 1 seizure of power, is responsible for a widespread pattern of enforced disappearances, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch called on the king and the army to immediately end the practice of “disappearances” and to take concrete steps to hold perpetrators accountable.
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