| Username |
Post |
| kamala sarup |
Posted
on 16-Nov-03 02:08 AM
Communism turned terrorism: Why?
Kamala Sarup
After the communists took over power by destroying democracy and monarchy, Combodia, Ethiopia, and Afganistan became weak economically and politically. Nepal has to learn from these countries about how the people are suffering after they lost democracy and monarchy. Now, the situation in Combodia is getting better because the Cambodian people brought back multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy by ousting the Maoist Khmer Rouge. Twenty-nine years after the communist took over the power in Ethiopia and the King, Jahir Shah, was sent out of Afghanistan, the people have suffered immensely. So, only democracy and monarchy will be able to save Nepal, its sovereignty and the Nepalese people's freedom. Nepal deserves freedom, democracy, constitutional monarchy, free market and right to live in their own land.
What I am saying about the Maoist guerrilla issue is that the question should not be which government system is better, mine or yours." Trying to answer this question will only lead to chaos and hatred, death and destruction, violence and murder. Why take that deadly path? A better and more practical way to approach this problem by first realizing that all people everywhere on earth need to focus on loving their country (wherever that country may be). Similarly they should have respect for their leaders and governments, and on having a greater pride in the land in which they live and call home.
This world's economy revolves around and even depends upon stable governments everywhere. If each individual was to do his or her civic duty by honoring his or her home country, then economies would be built up in the process. For example, exercising their voting rights by voting in greater numbers during elections, increasing their loyalty to their companies by looking for more ways to being productive, and most importantly, honoring their father and mother, sisters and brothers, friends and neighbors are ways to make up a better nation.
An effective way to deliver a just government system is by building one that possesses a mature checks and balance system, one that limits the effects of corruption and therefore helps to protect the civil rights of every citizen of the country. It's time for the people to stop looking in envy to other lands to satisfy their idea of a desirable place to be, to stop looking to other countries to find their ideal home. It's time for the people to look to their own homes, their own families, and their own communities to realize how valuable and precious their own land really is.
There is a lot wrong with being a communist. Six million Ukrainians two million Cambodians, millions of North Koreans, millions in Zimbabwe and in Tito's Yugoslavia are starving to death right now. The total population of Cambodia, Turkey, Iran, or Argentina had to lose their life or suffer from starvation, malnutrition and undiagnosed or mistreated illnesses. Millions are uncounted for, incarcerated and have starved to death or died due to exposure. Communists believed that Marxism would bring about the greatest human welfare and power must be used to tear down the feudal or capitalist order but in practice, this system did not improve the lot of the average person, instead it usually made their living conditions worse.
It is also widely known that Communism and Maoism meant in practice bloody terrorism and forced labor. It is really sad to know that some 100 million people worldwide lost their lives to the ideological scourge of communism after 1917. They include the victims of Stalin's terror, victims of the Chinese Cultural Revolution; victims of the Cambodian genocide; victims of the Latin American and Cuban civil wars; East and Central Europeans dying in the uprisings of 1953, 1956 and 1968 against their communist rulers. Communists also committed genocide. Genocide is the killing of people because of their ethnicity, race, religion, or language.
Khmer Rouge said they were creating a utopian nation where everyone would be equal but while the entire population was dying of starvation and disease, the Khmer Rouge soldiers and the communist party members were able to choose any woman or man they wanted to marry. In addition to limitless food, they were also crazy about gold, jewelry, perfume, imported watches, western medicine, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, silk, and other imported goods. I cannot forget how one woman was forced to cook her husband's liver, which was cut out while he was still alive. Women were raped before execution. In fact, every day, every minute the communists step on the rights of people like us, debase our values and restrict our freedoms. Communism and terrorism have a mutual aim.
As most communist governments underwent increasing liberalization and a loosening of centralized power in the 1960s through the 1980s, the pace of killing dropped off sharply.
Many Nepalese want peace at any price. We wanted to bring back that slow-paced, simple life we grew up with and loved dearly. We don't know how high the price was that we have to pay for the Maoist's peace.
Maoists separated us from our families. Along the way, many innocent Nepalis are dying of starvation, loss of loved ones. Parents lost their children, families are separated and it is really sad to know that schools have been turned into Maoists headquarters. Books were burned, factories were left to rust. We are refugees of our own country.
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| lonely1 |
Posted
on 16-Nov-03 05:53 AM
While Maoist violence should be condemned and Kamala thanked for starting the thread, I am not sure one can so easily characterise the Maoists and Monarchy as two polar opposities. If we are giving credit to the monarchy for a few good things it did to the country, we should also dare to say that the same power is also responsible for the many problems dogging the country today. It is a basic principle of logic that if you take credit for the perceived positive outcomes of your actions, you should also be prepared to take responsibility for all the bad that results from it. Then, in our case, it is the ages of suppression and misrule/ mismanagement and the resulting alienation and frustation that is now feeding into the insurgency. Those who blame the last 12 bad years only are myopic (I am not saying the 12 years were good but we at least can say they were bad, but what about hundreds of years before when you would be summarily executed for saying that and everything--murder to smuggling--would be protected by the darbariyas and hushed up?). The form this insurgency is expressing in is in no way forgivable, but one with a more civil/ human face and ruthless commitment to social justice was long overdue.
Kamaljee's argument is severely flawed also because she does not take into account the historical, social, or economic dimension of the problem and just chooses to focus on the limited political issue with inadequate and loaded analogies.
Why just Afghanistan and Cambodia? Aren't there countries much better than them without the king ? And what about the darbariya's exclusionary policies all these years except the last 12 years? There are credible reports that Darbariyas themselves were behind the Maoists in the early phase and now are simply worried that it is getting out of control, and, of course, as we can see even beyond that of BRB and Prachanda.
And on a different note, I am sad at Bri. Gen. Pandey's death but not more than at any other Nepali's in this senseless violence. But why do people seem to be so lopsided when it comes to power and position? Does a powerful person's life mean more than one ordinary police jawan or a 4-year old baby or 79 year old senior? Are to see this important social space--sajha--turn into an elite club, maybe unintended though? I think we all need to be very self-reflective of our complicity in the thousand-faced problem bedeveling Nepal today.
LONELY#1 (Please don't confuse me with lonely. I am from Chitwan)
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| lonely1 |
Posted
on 16-Nov-03 06:03 AM
Kamaljee,
No offense meant for picking on you, but your title promised the reader to tell the why of Communism-turned-terrorism, but I could get no sense of your answer in your piece. I was, maybe, expecting too much, but when you have not just a few lines but an article-type writing running into papragraphs with a clear title, I think the expectation was not too much unjustified. And aren't you doing a ph.d. in women's role in conflict resolution? I'm impatient to read your more balanced articles and also the dissertation. I have read parts of someone else working on the same topic (not women's role, specifically, though). Good luck!
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| Kamala Sarup |
Posted
on 16-Nov-03 06:26 AM
Lonely 1,
I admire knowledge producers like you. our life is really now on the Khukuri's blade. hopefully the day will come soon to breath fresh air without any pollution of blood. I want to share my views to you. You are right, Nepal’s situation is both urgent and complex. For true peace in Nepal, security is essential. Only with security will we win the restoration of women’s rights, peace, and democracy. Democracy was restored in Nepal but it soon faced a grave internal problem. Nepali people had struggled for democracy and a multi-party system in 1990, but all the political parties have since violated the constitution. They have not been able to maintain peace, safeguard the lives of Nepalese people, and control the violence, killings and corruption in accordance with the multi-party system and democratic norms. All the political parties had assured the people that development and security would be guaranteed so Nepalese people had hopes for development and security. But discrimination started to take place right from the beginning. In Nepal, as their objective has been mere capturing of power, the political parties are not worthy of leading the nation to peace, security and progress. now it has become a place of political insecurity, and women and children in particular have paid a terrible price for this situation. There is no denying the fact that the Nepalese women have suffered a great deal due to the Maoist war. Because of poverty and an ongoing leadership crisis, things have gone from bad to worse in recent years in Nepal. Nepal's long-running conflict has been marked by an extraordinary level of brutal human rights abuses, including sexual violence against women. Countless acts of violence afflicting women and children in Nepal still persist, ranging from marital rape to pre-natal sex selection in favour of male babies, female infanticide, sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation, including trafficking and forced prostitution. Unfortunate developments in Nepal have seen uneducated rural girls become the hapless victims of scrupulous urban and semi-urban thugs and power brokers. As a result, thousands of innocent Nepalese young women end up in the red-light districts of Indian cities and elsewhere every year, and they ultimately return home with the life-taking disease of AIDS. Forceful recruitment of young women in the Maoist force is another serious issue in Nepal. Many young women have been displaced from their homes and forced to stay out because of this threat to them at the villages. Killing of male members of the family by both parties (the Maoist and the police) is another way of Nepalese women are being victimized. Even news reports in a Nepali daily said that women were being forced to carry guns and satisfy the sexual appetites of the insurgents.Nepalese women have suffered the loss of family, houses, and they have faced extreme poverty. The majority of internal refugees are women and children. Most of the women who could stand the harassment and the economic hardships moved to the big cities like Katmandu, Pokhara, Janakpur, Dhangadhi and Biratnagar. With increased insecurity, the fear of attack often caused women to flee. The need to stop the violence, therefore, is urgent and vital. To achieve permanent peace, security, and stability in Nepal, the political parties, civic society, women’s organizations and intellectual forces should make the peace process more participatory and should devote themselves to the creation of a peaceful and prosperous Nepal through mutual understanding. The Nepalese women want the war to come to an end and their urgent essential problems to be addressed immediately.
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| sewak |
Posted
on 16-Nov-03 09:41 AM
Most of the contributor in the sajha are those outside Nepal. To understand real issue and the crisis we are facing today, I believe we have to ask majority of the people in Nepal. What do they want to better their life?
People brought the movement just to give more power to those politicians who were not able to express their view during Panche time. But for rest of the people, I dont know whether their views were worthwhile for rest of the citizens. Unfortunately like everyone else we got misled and got the wrong leaders who put us in such chaos.
It takes years to build a good system, but it takes a day to destroy it. At least we know now that it does not matter what system yo have. what matters is the right type of leadership. Is there anyone?
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| isolated freak |
Posted
on 17-Nov-03 06:06 AM
I absolutely agree with you, sewak. Its not about the systems but about the leaders. Having seen Malaysia prosper under mahathir, Singapore under Lee Kuan YU and China under the stable leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, I too believe that its the leaders who deliver, not the system. System in itself can be quite dysfunctional like a Train with no engine. You need a good engine to keep that train running. Ditto to countries. You can't just ahev the body, you need the engine and that too good and functional, then only the train moves forward.
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| rbaral |
Posted
on 17-Nov-03 06:26 AM
>Having seen Malaysia prosper under mahathir, Singapore under
>Lee Kuan YU and China under the stable leadership of the
>Chinese Communist Party, I too believe that its the leaders
>who deliver, not the system.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. What we lack is leaders, not a system.
We have already had too much of an experience with too many systems.
Time for us to consider sticking with a system.
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