Revolution
“According to a recent (Sept. 21) article by David Blair in the London Telegraph, ‘The Maoist movement now wields de facto control over most of Nepal. By following the Mao Tse-tung model of guerrilla warfare—- becoming ‘fish swimming in the ocean of the people’—- the insurgents have won dominance of the Himalayas and of the foothills. King Gyanendra’s rule is now limited to Kathmandu, Nepal’s few towns and the southern lowlands of the Terai.’ But even in the capital, the rebels flex their muscles; on September 16 they closed down Kathmandu with a highly successful general strike. (The Maoists’ actions caused Prime Minister Bahadur Deuba to request that the monarch postpone parliamentary elections planned for November by a year; the enormously unpopular King Gyanendar responded by dismissing the cabinet and assuming personal administrative control. This has only exacerbated the political crisis.) A British military source told Blair that the Maoists ‘will continue to gain ground. Unless something dramatic happens, it’s only a matter of time before they win.’ So, for anybody paying attention, the situation has become quite interesting.”
A really interesting article about the Maoist insurgency that is taking place in Nepal, and the effect that a victory by Communists there might have beyond Nepal’s borders.
Read the whole piece here.
