[Marxism] Samir Amin on Nepal

[Joonas Laine <jjonas@xxxxxx>]

Some time ago I read the news that the Maoist-led Nepali government had 
banned strikes for the time being. <http://www.cmaq.net/node/31987>
It doesn't sound good, though it's difficult to tell what the actual 
context is, or what the political setting in Nepal is even in general.

On the good news front there's the CPN-M outlawing slavery:
<http://southasiarev.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/nepal-maoists-abolish-slavery/>

and changing their official view on homosexuality:

Kathmandu, Dec 11th Nepalâs ruling Maoist party, which till a year ago 
regarded homosexuality as a threat to a future socialist society, will 
strike a blow for gay rights at the UN later this month, marking a 
sea-change in the organisation that took up arms to seize power. Nepalâs 
first Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, has asked the 
foreign ministry and Nepalâs ambassador to the UN to support a statement 
that will be tabled at the UN General Assembly this
month recognising human rights violations on sexual orientation and 
gender identity.
<http://southasiarev.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/nepal-maoists-stand-up-for-lgbtq-rights/>

Concerning other political issues more to do with the economic side of 
things, I don't have good suggestions how to proceed in a country where 
there apparently is no strong proletariat to speak of and (so it seems) 
not too many opportunities to spread the revolution abroad. Maybe Indian 
comrades on the list might shed further light on developments there..?

---

Nepal, a Promising Revolutionary Advance
Samir Amin
http://monthlyreview.org/090202amin.php

Authentic Revolutionary Progress

Imagine. A liberation army that supports a generalized revolt of the 
peasantry reaches the gates of the capital, where the people, in their 
turn, rise up, drive the royal government from power and welcome as 
their liberator the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), whose 
effective revolutionary strategy needs no further demonstration. What is 
involved here is the most radical victorious revolutionary advance of 
our epoch, and, for this reason, the most promising.

[..]

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