This is for comments on Announcement: Nepal Communist Party (Triple D) Lunches a Revolution

M.P.ji I can see your frustration. But, anybody listening? Nothing works in Nepal.

And, after you come back from Jungle, we will declare you a Neta and worship you in the Kathmandu streets and put garlands all over your neck. You will be our hero. All the democratically elected netas will be on the sideline, herya herai....

Because, I am the creator of you and hence you will rule in MY kingdom, the way I WILL TELL YOU...... Others wil be dancing around you.....does not matter if you killed 7,200 people, does not matter you orphaned 5000 kids, who cares about 4000 women who were widowed by you and all those in innocent teenagers raped by you and your gangsters, but, BHEDO JANATA will do your Jaya Jaya Kaar!!!!!

Dhanya Prabhu!!!!!!! Hajulai koti koti namaskaar!!!

M.P.ji,

It was a very timely piece. I hope that we will have a civil society where dissents are respected, and also the protesters will vent their frustation/dissents via media or peaceful demonstrations.

You know we have sort of Prisoner's dilemma thing going on in our country rightnow. It is clear that if the king listens to parties, and they both cooperate, there is maximum gain for both. If one is sidelined,another may monopolize the power, and take everything for the time it is in power. If both don't cooperate, then we will have destructive thing going on.

Rightnow, they are both not cooperating.

[Though, obviously, we know who the most culprit is, and I am not accusing the bickering factions of being equally culpable.]

M.P. ji,
I would like to apply for membership in your party. In addition, I would also like a pompous, self-delusional nickname like 'jwala' or 'aakrosh'. Can I also become a commander of some region, so I can boss people in the region ? I would also like to suggest that we demand the right to burn tires on public roads be constitutionally guaranteed. And, of course, if our conditions are not met immediately the resulting turmoil will squarely be governments fault.

All hail our great leader M.P. !!!

Nice satire!

>> GDP = C + I + G + X-M


M.P.

That's a very creative, not to mention hilarious, application of macro theory to
explain the ins and outs of the not-so-mainstream Maoist economy. Well done!!

That said, the Maoists, by some accounts, constitute Asia's wealthiest rebel
group. Isn't that interesting?

A minor quibble: Am puzzled as to why the Maoists would want to demand that 'Black Book of Communism' be declared sacred". I say that because I happen to have read parts of that book (thanks to Ramesh Sharma, a libertarian friend in Kathmandu who also wrote a review of that book for The Kathmandu Post Review of Books), and if I remember correctly, that book is very much, well, anti-communism in that it catalogs,
in great detail, the horrors created by Communist regimes around the world. [If anything, I would think that the Maoists would want to burn that book! :-)]

Here's what the publisher's blurb says:

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html

That aside, enjoyed your piece.

oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal

Thank you for the response, everyone.

Until Oct 4, we must confess, most people hoped that since there was King, he would step up and take care of the situation. Nobody knew whether or not Gyanendra had such power, but there was hope and that brought optimism.

Everything seems to be going downhill since Oct 4. The King relegated himself to a political entity who bargains for power and money. His coming into the equation was one of the most unfortunate things that ever happened. He put his own legitimacy at stake. I have no faith in monarchial system like ours, but this was not the time he should have jumped in. May be he made himself more powerful. And that's unfortunate, too.

I have slowly losing faith in political parties, too. Students should not be used as weapons to protect the interests of the political parties. Maoists are using the illeterates, political parties are using the "literates". One wonders, what is the difference? Do all these "literates" know what they are doing?

Civil society. Let's talk about journalists. A person who was once a terrorist has now become a nationalist. Seems like our journalists have some power too! And people who work for Radio Nepal--these are people whose status is well above, I repeat well above, that of our commie brothers--received the certificates from BRB. What am I seeing here?

Professors do not know what to do. Our civil engineers must be killing their time playing cricket in Maharajgunj.

In a nut shell, we now have noone to look up with confidence. And resorting to humor sooths my frustration a little, but the actual frustration we should be worried about lies not in some college kid in America but in the terrains of Rolpa and Rukum. People there have absolutely nothing to look forward to.

---------------------

I undestand Ashu's confusion. If I remember right, the book at some point talks about the way civilians were tortured in Combodia, Russia, and China. From what I see--and I am not Puskar Gautam to see the ins and outs of the Maoists :)--the Maoists war is no longer based on any Marxist, Lennist or Mao ideology. It is all about creating havoc. And the Black Book of Communism surely teaches them how to achieve that havoc-status.

To tell the truth, I did not think in that depth about the book when I wrote the piece. The Maoist want a new constitution, but it is clear that they do not know what they want in their new constitution ("testo sambidhaan jas anushar rastra ko adhikaar jantaamaa nihit hunchha" does not tell us much about what kind of constitution they want, does it?) . I was trying to convey that they are *completely confused* as far as the constitution is concerned.

Thanks,

M.P.

"but the actual frustration we should be worried about lies not in some college kid in America but in the terrains of Rolpa and Rukum. People there have absolutely nothing to look forward to." Did they ever have something to look forward to? I guess now they have something to look forward to. A stigma of being labelized as "illetrates, maoists, dumb villagers....." whereever they go. Have u ever noticed, how PPL.'s attitude change when they come to know someone is from Rukum or Rolpa? Excuse me! stop looking at them that way! Just becoz they were born in Rukum or Rolpa doesn't make them a maoist automatically. And if it does, they are way too innocent in their thoughts than many of those looks "you don't matter coz you are an illetrate dumb villager." Isn't being a human being enuff?
Has anybody ever thought Why so many ppL from those areas became maoists? Ha! I am not surprised. They ( the common lay ppL. who struggle and work hard day and night to survive) were same before the maoism revolutionary...maoists only exposed their reality to the world!
M.P. sorry, I went rambling on ur topic! don't take it as a personal thingy. It's just a personal opinion. Thanks for being a voice!

Gurl_interrupted,

I wont take it personally. Perspectives, after all, are acquired through knowledge and that knowledge is partly gained through interactions with people--whether they take place online or offline does not make much of a difference. If I take healthy criticisms like yours personally, what is the point of posting this piece here? [I know I can go on and on with these *aadarsa kaa kuraa*, but I will stop here. C2H5OH is bad both for health and communication, they say].
-----------------

1) People in the Maoist affected regions did have some thing to look forward too when the Maoist war first started. Although many of these expectations must have come from the Maoists' lofty promises--which, of course few knew/know can be materialized--people did have hope. Those whose close one(s) had been jailed for no mistake of their own had a hope that their close one(s) would be released after the Maoists created a "just society". Those who had kids going to school had a hope that someday their children would grow up and take care of them. Aren't these hopes? Aren't these things they were looking forward to?

2) I am not calling people from Rolpa and Rukum or any other district highly affected by the war Maoists. Provide evidence.

3) Maoists revealed the agonies of the have-nots, but there were other ways of doing so. Who suffered in the war? The same have-nots, right? I have never seen a case where victims are further tortured to "expose[d] their reality to the world".

4) You are right most people might have joined the Maoist army because of *badhdhyataa*, not because they wished to. But read my post again, I have only satired the Maoist leadership, not their followers. As a matter of fact, it is highly possible that I would have been a member of the janasena had I not admitted to one of the elite schools in Kathmandu during my early years. Some of my friends are/were involved in the war and I feel for them.

M.P. Jyu,

great piece. Great satire. I salute your writings and have immensely enjoyed all of them. I can maybe relate to your frustrations to some extent, but also ONLY from my perspective.

As far as the maoists are concerned, I do not know where the line will be drawn. I think ppl are jus damn too worried if the maoists jeopardize the talks series again! We do not want to live in fear forever, and the compensation we are making is of course is disgusting seeing the killers loose on the streets. tara k garne.......I have always thought nepal is not only backward, but most nepalis are very laid back......but I cannot say that police/army have caused less atrocities in those killing terraces either.

"professors do not know what to do, civil engineers are playing cricket in maharajgunj" hehe very true, and rest of the ppl have bid nepal goodbye and few of them keep popping up time and again wanting to Help nepal genuinely without going to nepal :)....and yes we all talk so passionately about the topic! I find it very ironic. So i follow the crowd..fritter far from the madding crowd frittering away with my keyboard....eheh....

keep postin!

Congratulation to M.P., Founding President of Nepal Communist Party (Triple D) and future father of Peoples Triple D Republic of Nepal for his excellent piece of real world satirical humor.

I am feeling a little guilty because out of the 12 postings in this thread, 33% are mine (if we include this one). :) But I do not want to upset my fellow "camrades" :), so I will continue responding.
-------------

First of all, Satya, thanks. If you want you can follow me until I ditch you and go for a gentleman's agreement with another power-thirsty avataar of Ghichnu (this is our new God, mind you. It does not always have to be Vishnu right? Kaam suhaaudo huna paryo ni :)) basking in self-claimed legitimacy.

-----------

Oys_Chill,

Thanks for using "jyu" instead of the common "ji" (In M.P.'s dictionary, adapted from famous Tumpaklal dictionary, G means marijuana and M.P. is kind of scared when people use "ji" while addressing him :))

As far as people talking passionately about Nepal and not doing anything concrete, I guess that is understandable too. Sabai aafai banyo bhane tyo Madhav Kumar Nepal ko "raastrabaad" yesai badhchha ni, hoina ra?

M.P. is trying his best to go to Nepal this summer (it is kind of unfortunate that it is only moneyless, *buddhiless*, unqualified, dummies like myself who want to go to Nepal, isn't it?). M.P. often builds castles in the air. This could just be one of them. Or it could be one of those lucky projects in which M.P. will succeed (M.P. has 2% success rate as of April 17, 2003 :)). I have built almost 90% of the pillars underneath the castles this time. So I am positive.

If I manage to go to Nepal, Nepal maa kaam gariraa NGO haru ko database tayaar garne dhoko chha. This I hope will help Nepalis living in foreign land "put [their] money where their mouth are", if I may borrow Ashu's phrase. If we have a clear idea of what saanatinaa organizations are doing and where we can be of help, we can always leave politics to the dummies and start our own peaceful revolution, can't we? Since going to Nepal is still a castle in the air, this plan is more like a dharaharaa at the top of the castle in the air. Would you be interested in helping me build it? If you have time, of course. Even if we can not come up with anything useful, we can always boast about what we do now to our nati/palaati decades later, right!

May all the proletariats of the world remain united. :)

Floundering President
CPN (Triple D)

Hi M.P.,
When I posted the above message, it was a criticism to the "you don't matter attitudes" and not ur column or you as an author. And when I said, how PPl's attitude change when they come to know someone is from the two districts mentioned above, I was talking about the general public and not you (unles u fall into that general public :=D ;-) )!
When I wrote maoists only exposed their realitly to the world, I was meaning, suffering existed even before all these choas in those districts. Before, ppl., the world and the leaders cared less coz those places were in distant, far from their conscinences and sight. But now at least they are aware these places exist and these sufferings exist and if you try to overlook the misfortunes that is in remote and in distance, it's going to destroy you in the near future. Ofcourse, I agree with you it wasn't good at all coz in the end, simple innnocent ppL. were the ones who lost. I empathize with them but personally I feel everyone who lost their lives or lost someone/something they loved during these war are the true heroes! (all nepali dai , didi, bahinis).
I understood ur satire was to the leaders and not to the general public. So, was my post. It (call it healthy criticism or an ignorant post) was not in any sense directed at you.
I must be rambling some meaningless words becoz, I am yet trying to find my stand and space where I belong! Coz I am not sure where I stand and whom do I support (maoists or government). I dunno whom to categorize as good guys and whom to categorize as bad guys! Maybe I stand in a pragmatic ground! I have yet to find my stand! Still seraching!
I can't blame them(government or maoists) either and when I do, I am a hypocrite myself. How stupid am I and can I get to call them murderers and corrupt when I have a non-stop battle going on in my mind between good and evil every day! infact every moment of my life!

ha! G_I le pani bhasan dina janeko rahicha...:d


well as far as i know.. like logical sense.. said.. NOTTIN WORKS IN NEPAL...

rest of the world is in 21st century.. n our nepal way too back.. no one is out there who will make a better nepal.. not even the person who posted this message.. neither the king.. neither them so called our leaders.. neither meh... no one.. let it go like the way it is.. n eventually we all ll hear n see there is NO NEPAL in the MAP..

yb

Honorable President MP,

M.P.
Founding President
Nepal Communist Party (Triple D)


instead of writing (Triple D) why not you just write (3D). 3D is very fast to be caught by peoples eye. I am just helping you to do your PR. I can be your Hahooligan Advisor or supporter.

Oohi Hahooligan Supporter
HG

Comrades up in arms



The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression
Authors: Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, Andrezej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek, Jean-Louis Margolin, et al.
(Translated by: Jonathan Murphy and Mark Kramer)
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Price: US $37.50; Pages: 856

Reviewed by Ramesh Sharma in Kathmandu

Fascist was one of the insults regularly hurled at Girija Prasad Koirala by those who call themselves Communists. I bring this up to show that Communists obviously continue to believe that they are morally superior to Fascists. If they thought otherwise, they wouldnt use the label Fascist as a slur and Communist as an accolade, would they?

Fascism is no doubt horrible. The holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis is justly regarded as a monstrous crime. And its estimated that all together 25 million people died because of what the Nazis did. As a consequence, Fascism is so thoroughly despised, and justifiably so, everywhere that only fringe elements in civilized societies find it appealing.

But what of the Communists, the self-described paragons of virtue? Well, if the figure presented in The Black Book of Communism is to be believedand there is every reason to believe, based on how meticulously the numbers have been added up, that the figure represents a credible estimate--it turns out that they have managed to killdirectly or indirectly--around 100 million (yes, one hundred million) people. Even if the death toll is credible, Communist apologists quick to argue, the crimes committed by the Communist regimes were qualitatively different (read for just cause) from those committed by the Nazis.

When reminded of Stalin, most Communists acknowledge that he was no saint, but put forward the stale argument that Lenin was a great leader. How good or bad was Lenin? And how about Mao, the role model of Nepals fanatical Maoists?

There is no better book, especially in one volume, that does a better job of wrestling with these and related questions than The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by a group of mainly French scholars. When first published in France in 1997, the book created a great deal of controversy for suggesting that Nazi crimes and communist crimes were morally equivalent. Its been available in English translation for the last couple of years, with Martin Malias excellent foreword. Edited by Stephane Courtois, an ex-communist and director of research at a Paris-based think tank, and other scholars, mostly ex-communists, its more a collection of academic essays than a book intended for the general reader.

But this surprisingly readable book is a comprehensive--all Communist regimes are discussed--catalog of decades of horrorstoo numerous to name, from the Red Terror under Lenin, to the Great Terror under Stalin, to the government-caused famines in the Soviet Union and China, to the gulag and laogai, to the disastrous Great Leap Forward, to the madness of Maos Cultural Revolution and the Killing Fields of Cambodia--that a large section of humanity was subjected to in the name of building utopia. There is a judicious blend of previously available materials and materials from newly opened archives in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

The quality of essays in the book is uniformly high, although Nicolas Werths outstanding opening essay on the Soviet Union that anchors the book is the best. Jean-Louis Margolins essays on China and Cambodia are also superb.

The central thesis of the book is that wherever they usurped power, Communist regimes relied on mass crime as statecraft to consolidate totalitarianism. Martin Malia notes in his foreword that the Communist regimes not just committed crimes but were criminal enterprises in their very essence: on principle, so to speak, they all ruled lawlessly, by violence, and without regard to human life. This Khmer Rouge slogan exemplifies the nature of those regimes: One can always make a mistake and arrest the wrong person, but one should never let the wrong person go.

Another thesis of the book, highlighted by Courtois, is that the nature and magnitude of the Communist crimes make it no less evil than Nazism. Courtois reminds those who argue that most of the crimes committed by the Communists were carried out in accordance with their own laws that the same was also true of Nazism. The crimes&are to be judged not by the standards of Communist regimes, he argues, but by the unwritten code of the natural laws of humanity. Courtois is not alone in making the comparison. Assessing Stalin, under whom Communism was institutionalized, historian Norman Davies writes elsewhere, the only person whose evil can be compared to his [Stalins] was another man with a different moustache [Hitler], who he never met, and who was not so successful.

And what to make of Lenin? The book successfully puts to rest the myth of good Lenin. In exposing the vicious nature of Lenins rule, Werth presents powerful evidence, including Lenins official directives and field reports prepared by party and secret police functionaries, to make his case beyond doubt that there was no good Lenin who was, as the myth has it, betrayed by bad Stalin. It was Lenin, he argues, whose systematic practice of terror made savageries of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and the rest possible.

Many people have directly or indirectly rejected the notion that Communism and Nazism are on the same moral plane. They argue, as Princeton political scientist Alan Ryan has done in reviewing the book for the New York Times, that Nazism, unlike Communism, was intrinsically evil because it was exterminationist in principle. But they conceded, as Ryan does that if wild utopian disregard for human life is the charge, there is no contest between the practices of Nazism and Communism. In any case, maybe in years to come, when many more people than today become aware of the true nature of Communismintrinsically evil or not, people calling themselves Communists will be as rare as people calling themselves Neo-Fascists or Neo-Nazis today.

The book should serve as a warning to us Nepalis about the true nature of Communism, which is based on the utopian notion of perfectibility of man and the long-discredited notion of economic determinism. Giving up, out of disillusionment resulting from corruption in places high and low, on the present system, however imperfect, and cheering for the Maoists, as even many otherwise smart people do, will be ignoring history so well documented in the book.

(Ramesh Sharma (sharmarr@excite.com) is a libertarian).