437개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
"THE CAPITALISM HAS TO SURVIVE"
While stock markets are crashing and the world is facing a crisis, CNN Int'l is still talking about the Global Economic Crisis/GEC (and - what a surprise!! - there's no end in sight..) Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, much celebrated in the international "left-alternative" movement demanded (in an interview with the German bourgeois Spiegel magazine, 10.10): "Capitalism, with all its market mechanisms, has to survive!"
Noam Chomsky - the "guru" of the "radical left", "anti-capitalist", anti-globalization movement - said about the "current crisis of capitalism" (in the USA) following in an interview with Spiegel Online (10.10):
SPIEGEL: Professor Chomsky, cathedrals of capitalism have collapsed, the conservative government is spending its final weeks in office with nationalization plans. How does that make you feel?
Chomsky: The times are too difficult and the crisis too severe to indulge in schadenfreude. Looking at it in perspective, the fact that there would be a financial crisis was perfectly predictable, its general nature, if not its magnitude. Markets are always inefficient.
SPIEGEL: What exactly did you anticipate?
Chomsky: In the financial industry, as in other industries, there are risks that are left out of the calculation. If you sell me a car, we have perhaps made a good bargain for ourselves. But there are effects of this transaction on others, which we do not take into account. There is more pollution, the price of gas goes up, there is more congestion. Those are the external costs of our transaction. In the case of financial institutions, they are huge.
SPIEGEL: But isn't it the task of a bank to take risks?
Chomsky: Yes, but if it is well managed, like Goldman Sachs, it will cover its own risks and absorb its own losses. But no financial institution can manage systemic risks. Risk is therefore underpriced, and there will be more risk taken than would be prudent for the economy. With government deregulation and the triumph of financial liberalization, the dangers of systemic risks, the possibility of a financial tsunami, sharply increased.
SPIEGEL: But is it correct to only put the blame on Wall Street? Doesn't Main Street, the American middle class, also live on borrowed money which may or may not be paid back?
Chomsky: The debt burden of private households is enormous. But I would not hold the individual responsible. This consumerism is based on the fact that we are a society dominated by business interests. There is massive propaganda for everyone to consume. Consumption is good for profits and consumption is good for the political establishment.
SPIEGEL: How does it benefit politicians when the populace drives a lot, eats a lot and goes shopping a lot?
Chomsky: Consumption distracts people. You cannot control your own population by force, but it can be distracted by consumption. The business press has been quite explicit about this goal...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,583454,00.html
And while the Washington Post (10.10), has been asking if this will be "The End Of American Capitalism?"...
..the Palestinian "people's restistance" (according to SWP/UK, SAV/Marx21/D, All Together/ROK..etc...) organisation Hamas, one of the main subjects of solidarity for the int'l "anti-imperialist" movement, tells us the "truth" who's really behind the GEC and/or at least the financial crisis in the USA in following "analysis" (Caution! That's - really, believe me! - not an article from the 1929/30 edition of Der Stuermer!):
☞ When Will America wake up from her slumber? (PIC, 10.4)
Last month the Napali Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka "Chairman Prachanda", CPN-M) has said his party's long term projection is to establish a People's Republic in Nepal..
Now, at least since the last week his coalition "partners" in the Napali gov't, especially the bourgeois NC and the CPN-UML (*), are intensifying their attacks against the PM (incl. the CPN-M) and his ideas, as it has been reported in NepalNews:
10.4.:
Maoists not committed to democracy: Koirala
Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala has accused the Maoist leadership of not showing commitment to democracy.
He even went on to accuse the Maoists of betraying Nepali people by speaking of establishing of People's Republic in Nepal.
In a tea-party organised by NC's Kathmandu-9 committee on the occasion of Dahain festival Saturday morning, Koirala said he would not take rest from the 60-years long fight for democracy.
He said his party would continue to work for peace and political stability in the country.
Accusing CPN (Maoist) of creating obstacles in the process of writing the new constitution, Koirala claimed that the Maoists had come thus far by accepting his proposal.
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/oct/oct04/news04.php
10.5.:
People's Republic unacceptable to UML..
CPN-UML leader Ishwor Pokharel on Saturday said that imposition of "People's Republic" order will not be in the interest of the country, warning that his party will start a strong agitation if the Maoists try to deliberately force it in the country.
Pokharel, who was speaking at a press meet in Pokhara, further said that the Maoists should not try to thrust the system upon the people just because it looks good for them.
Saying that it is both impossible as well as unacceptable to merge all Maoist combatants into Nepal Army (NA), Pokharel said that only those Maoist fighters who meet the recruitment standard of the army should be inducted into the NA.
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/oct/oct05/news03.php
NC leaders step up rhetoric against Maoists
A day after Nepali Congress (NC) President Girija Prasad Koirala charged the Maoist leadership of trying to undermine democracy, his close aide in the party, vice President Ram Chandra Poudel, unleashed a blistering attack on the Maoist party, saying the former rebels are "looking to end democracy" in the name of establishing a 'People's Republic'.
Poudel also said the populist slogans brought one after another by the Maoist party are a "ploy to end democracy once and for all," and that NC would strongly revolt against such move.
He was addressing party cadres at a reception hosted by the NC Kathmandu
constituency-4 on the occasion of Dashain festival.
Accusing the Maoists of creating a delay in the drafting of a new constitution, he said that NC is "very serious" regarding the issue and would play an instrumental role for the same.
Speaking at the same programme, another NC vice-president Prakash Man Singh charged the Maoists of trying to force a totalitarian system by implementing People's Republic order in the country. He said that now is the time for the party to go to the people and show its real standing.
Both Koirala and Poudel and few other NC leaders have stepped up rhetoric against the Maoists and the government it leads especially after PM Dahal's remarks that his party has lost faith in parliamentary democracy and wants to establish a People's Republican set up in the country.
The NC duo's almost daily diatribe against the Maoists has increased speculations that the NC is attempting to depose the current government by teaming up with the UML, the third largest party in the CA.
The possibility, however, was somewhat allayed after former general secretary of UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, on Saturday said that the present government must be allowed to complete its full term in office
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/oct/oct05/news07.php
* The CPN-UML (Unified "Marxist-Leninist"!!^^) is actually THE social-democratic party in Nepal..
"This is the end of capitalism. Welcome to chaos!"
..the Egyptian bourgeois newspaper Al-Masri al-Yom headlined in connection to the "Crisis of Global Economy" (today's CNN) last Thursday.
But while many analysts and especially the media of the int'l capitalism are getting more and more panic attacks(^^) over the expected "worst recession since 50 years", so the German (bourgeois) daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel (9.28), Chris Patten, UK's last governor in Hong Kong, published his 'glorification' of the - capitalist (of course!!) - globalization ("With the world's money markets in turmoil, globalization is a dirtier word than ever. It is blamed for destroying communities and widening the rift between rich and poor. But, argues Chris Patten, its opponents are hypocrites - free trade is still the best option"):
☞ Free For All (Guardian/UK, 9.19)
PS: Nouriel Roubini (New York Univ./RGE Monitor) said in an interview (Tagesspiegel, 9.27) in connection with the current crisis of the int'l capitalism: "This is the beginning of the end of the US Empire!" (*)...
* As usual(^^): a S. Korean "impressive" interpretation of the topic..
While 'The World As We Know It Is Going Under', as the German bourgeois magazine Spiegel Online headlined today - related to the current US financial crisis (*) - the Nepali PM "Chairman Prachanda" presented two days ago an "alternative" way (**) how Nepal can avoid such calamities of capitalist societies:
PM for 'People's Republic' in Nepal (NepalNews, 9.17)
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said his party's long term projection is to establish People's Republic in Nepal but repudiated converting the country into traditional communist state.
Addressing a function organised by the Nepal-Bharat Janamanch in Delhi Tuesday, PM Dahal said the constituent assembly would discuss the issue of establishing People’s Republic for the next one and half years, adding his party's ideological conflict with bourgeois and feudalists would continue.
Fearing a dictatorship in Nepal, PM Dahal suspected possible intervention in Nepal by imperialists and bigger power centres.
He also sough support from Indian communist groups for establishing a different kind of governance system in Nepal.
But, as e-Kantipur reported yesterday, not everyone in Nepal (surprise, surprise!!) is happy about Prachanda's ideas:
Maoist obfuscation worries parties
Political parties have raised serious doubts over the Maoist commitment to parliamentary democracy after Maoist Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's assertion Sunday that his party cannot remain within the traditional parliamentary system.
"At this stage of political transition, we can neither immediately arrive at our goal of socialism," he told the Constituent Assembly (CA) on Sunday, "nor can we remain in the current traditional parliamentary system. This is due to our development process and various other compulsions."
The prime minister said the CPN (Maoist) is opting for parliamentary system only for now while its ultimate goal of achieving socialism remains unchanged. He echoed his 'hard-line' colleague Mohan Baidya, aka Kiran.
On Saturday, Baidya said CPN (Maoist) is in favor of establishing "non-parliamentary multi-party system" as parliamentary system is concerned more with competition among rival political parties to form and dissolve governments.
To other parties, which stand firm in their support for parliamentary democracy, the prime minister's statement Sunday was at best political obfuscation; at worst, a direct threat to parliamentary democracy.
Senior vice-president of NC, Ram Chandra Poudel, said recent remarks from top Maoist leaders have posed serious threat to parliamentary democracy in Nepal. "This is a serious attack against parliamentary democracy by ultra-leftist forces," Poudel said, referring to Dahal's statement, at a function organized by Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON). The last time such a vicious attack on parliamentary democracy was made was by late King Mahendra in 1960, he said.
In a press statement on Tuesday, 20 additional CA members from the NC alleged that Prime Minister Dahal's remarks have given clear indication that Maoists are trying to push the country into yet another conflict.
Other parties too are worried about the Maoists. Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) spokesperson Sarbendra Nath Shukla was more than surprised at the prime minister's remarks. "We are surprised all right, but Sunday's statement [by the prime minister] has now made us nervous whether the new constitution will be democratic. The constitution requires a two-third majority for endorsement," he said.
Not everyone is a doubter, however. Central member of CPN-UML, Shankar Pokharel, said there is no need to cast doubts, at least for now, against Maoists regarding their commitment to parliamentary democracy. He said Maoists have in principle agreed to abide by the parliamentary system right from the 12-point understanding reached between the seven major parties and the CPN (Maoist) in November 2005. "This has been reiterated even in the Interim Constitution and the government should be run in accordance with the constitution," he said.
Political analyst Krishna Pokharel asks not to over-read Dahal's statement, for the Maoists are a communist party after all. "Their ultimate goal is socialism. I feel that the prime minister has only been honest in saying that. In fact, I would be worried if he had not."
He advised opposition parties to be "cautious," but not anxious over the remarks of the prime minister. "Such a remark could have been aimed for the party's consumption," he said.
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=160862
* But unfortunately, I'm supposing, that's not the final struggle for survival of the ruling capitalist "empire"!
** Well, I'm not sure if this is the most original way - especially when it is ordered just by a/the ruling party, even they're democratically elected.. Possibly a "People's Republic", i.e. the formation of a socialist society (as the tranisition to communism!!), can only be reached by the will (and/or struggle) of a majority of the people in a revolutionary process (not necessarily in a bloody revolution/civil war!!)
Last Friday the German (bourgeois) magazine Der Spiegel reported about a new version of Neocolonialism:
Africa Becoming a Biofuel Battleground
Western companies are pushing to acquire vast stretches of African land to meet the world's biofuel needs. Local farmers and governments are being showered with promises.
Everything will turn out alright. Correction: everything is going to get better. There will be new roads, a new school, a pharmacy, even a proper water supply. Most of all, there will be jobs -- 5,000, at the very least. "If there are jobs for us, then it's a good thing," says Juma Njagu, 26, who hopes to be able to leave his meager existence as a planter and charburner behind soon.
Njagu lives in Mtamba, a village of about 1,100 souls in Tanzania's Kisarawe district, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south-west of Dar es Salaam, the capital and largest city. Mtamba, accessible by dirt road, is a place where people scrape by on a bit of farming, a bit of fishing and the production of charcoal. There isn't much else in Mtamba.
That could change if the British firm Sun Biofuels goes ahead with plans to produce biodiesel fuel from "Jatropha curcas," an energy plant with a high oil content, which it hopes to plant on Kisarawe's farmland.
The Tanzanian government has granted the British firm the use of 9,000 hectares (22,230 acres) of sparsely populated farmland, or enough land to cover about 12,000 soccer fields, for a period of 99 years -- free of charge. In return, the company will invest about $20 million (€13 million) to build roads and schools, bringing a modicum of prosperity to the region.
Sun Biofuels is not alone. In fact, half a dozen other companies from the Netherlands, the United States, Sweden, Japan, Canada and Germany have already sent their scouts to Tanzania. Prokon, a German company known primarily for its wind turbines, has already begun growing jatropha curcas on a large scale. It expects to have 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) -- an area about the size of Luxembourg -- under cultivation throughout Tanzania soon.
A gold rush mentality has taken hold -- not just in East Africa but across the entire continent. In Ghana, the Norwegian firm Biofuel Africa has secured farming rights for 38,000 hectares (93,860 acres), and Sun Biofuels is also doing business in Ethiopia and Mozambique.
Kavango BioEnergy, a British company, plans to invest millions of euros in northern Namibia. Western companies are turning up in Malawi and Zambia, where they plan to produce diesel fuel and ethanol from jatropha curcas, palm oil or sugar cane. Foreign investors have their eye on 11 million hectares (27 million acres) in Mozambique -- more than one-seventh of the country's total area -- for growing energy plants. The government in Ethiopia has even made 24 million hectares (59 million acres) available.
The consequences of this boom are dramatic. Experts agree that the worldwide push to grow energy plants is on overwhelming factor in the global explosion of food prices. According to one study by the World Bank, as much as 75 percent of the increase could be attributable to this change in the types of crops being farmed. Many farmers in industrialized countries are more than happy to accept government subsidies for corn or rapeseed, but this comes at the cost of the cultivation of wheat, potatoes and legumes.
Oil plants are not competing with intensively farmed land in Africa -- yet. Investors argue that the land they are using is uncultivated or underused. But rising food prices and population growth will also increase pressure in the southern hemisphere to convert unused land to agricultural use.
For investors, growing energy plants in Africa is highly profitable. Crude oil will become scarce in the foreseeable future, so that easy-to-produce biofuel comes at just the right time. At an estimated annual yield of 2,500 liters per hectare, Sun Biofuels is in it for the long haul in Tanzania. Production becomes profitable as soon as the price of a barrel of crude oil exceeds $100 (€69) on the world market. A barrel currently goes for just over $100.
Africa offers oil farmers virtually ideal conditions for their purposes: underused land in many places, low land prices, ownership that is often unclear and, most of all, regimes capable of being influenced.
The land is unusable, says the Ethiopian energy and mining minister in Addis Ababa, the country's capital. "It's just marginal land," say officials at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Dar es Salaam. "The whole thing is nothing but positive," says the district administrator of Kisarawe, who is responsible for the Sun Biofuels project. "We have convinced the people." In his rudimentary office, which lacks both a computer and a copy machine, he leafs through the planning documents.
In none of these places are the needs of local residents taken into account. In Ghana, BioFuel Africa wrested away land clearing and usage rights from a village chief who could neither read nor write. The man gave his consent with his thumbprint. The weekly newspaper Public Agenda felt reminded of the "darkest days of colonialism." The Ghanaian environmental protection agency eventually put a stop to the clear-cutting, but only after 2,600 hectares (6,422 acres) of forest had been cut down.
In Tanzania, while there are hopes, there is also plenty of reason to be skeptical about promises that everything will improve. In April 2006, Sun Biofuels claimed that it had received formal approval for cultivation from 10 of the 11 affected villages. At that point, however, several communities were not even aware of the plans, while others had attached conditions to their consent. A village head complained, in writing, to the district administration that Sun Biofuels had cleared and marked off land without even contacting the village elders.
In Dar es Salaam, Peter Auge, general manager of Sun Biofuels Tanzania, sits in his office. He is a casual, straightforward South African. "It is true," he says, "that we were a little reserved with our information policy." There are still many unknowns, says Auge, adding that he doesn't want to read in the paper that "the project is two years behind schedule."
Auge promises social investments, although they are not part of the agreements at this point. Even when it comes to compensation for the people living on the land, which the government insists must be paid, the investors are getting an exceedingly good deal. They offered the equivalent of about €450,000, a ridiculous price for the 9,000 hectares (22,230 acres) that they can now use for almost a century.
Seventy kilometers (43 miles) farther south, on the Rufiji River, thousands of residents are being forced to move to make way for the Swedish company Sekab's plans to grow sugarcane, a highly water-intensive crop, on at least 9,000 hectares (22,230 acres) and then distill it into ethanol. Five thousand hectares (12,350 acres) have already been approved.
The river and the wetlands along its banks are the only source of drinking water for thousands of people, especially during the dry season. Sekab also plans to tap this reservoir to irrigate its plantations. Transparency? Nonexistent. Compensation? None whatsoever. Information? A scarce commodity. When residents attending an informational event asked about compensation payments, they were told curtly: "You will get what you are entitled to."
The PR machine is all the more active, even in poor countries like Tanzania. Naturally South African national Josephine Brennan, who is in charge of public relations for Sekab in Dar es Salaam, sees only good things for Tanzania's future. Farming for biofuel will enable the country to build new schools and new roads, which translate into better opportunities for Tanzanians, says Brennan. According to Brennan, small farmers will also be able to earn more money in the future by growing biofuel-ready plants, and up to three million people in Tanzania alone will be lifted out of poverty. With its two million hectares of potential cropland, Tanzania, says Brennan, has as much growth potential "as the Celtic Tiger, Ireland." Finally, she is convinced that "the world needs Tanzania."
But Brennan's rosy predictions do not reflect opinions in East Africa. A study on energy plants in Tanzania, conducted by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, lists a host of negative side effects. What is more, this is not the first time that white investors have promised prosperity for Tanzania.
With similarly enticing promises, small farmers were talked out of their land several decades ago to make way for coffee plantations. In the 1990s, foreign mining companies arrived in Tanzania to dig for gold. "They promised us jobs, new roads, new wells and schools," says journalist Joseph Shayo. "And what happened? No schools, no wells and few jobs, which were low-paying jobs, to boot." To make matters worse, large mining zones were fenced off and became inaccessible to the original residents.
In a recently published study on the "Biofuel Industry in Tanzania," journalist Khoti Kamanga of the University of Dar es Salaam warns against the side effects of energy plantations. The population, Kamanga writes, is usually uninformed, while the cultivation of energy plants usually goes hand-in-hand with forced resettlement. According to Kamanga, it is very likely that ethanol production will also affect food prices in Tanzania, with the country's dependency on food imports growing even further.
In Dar es Salaam, the government has now recognized that the boom also comes with problems. "Energy plants cannot be an alternative to food production," said President Jakaya Kikwete, responding to widespread resentment in his country over high food prices.
But the energy farmers remain unimpressed. Sun Biofuels and Sekab each want to expand their production to 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres) -- as soon as possible.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,576548,00.html
Somehow related:
☞ Haiti: Mud As Food (Guardian, 7.29)
Interview with Puspha Kamal Dahal (aka "Prachanda"), Nepal's Prime Minister and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (M):
“No Illusion On The Ultimate Goal
Of Socialist Communism”(*)
Q: In the past Maoist leaders had vowed not to keep any private property. They handed over their private properties to the party. Now, what will you do to your salary that you will be drawing as prime minister?
A: That (money) will go to the country and the people. It will be deposited in the party treasury. Except some amount for the general upkeep, the salary will be deposited in the party treasury.
Q: Then, how can one be assured of privatization under your government when you are yourself not keeping private property?
A: We do not believe that private property should be abolished. But we believe that the leadership must keep away from making money to ensure that the properties of the people are protected and promoted.
Q: What three things you will do in the next three months that will make a difference to the people?
A: First, a special committee will be announced to facilitate the integration (of the army) and rehabilitation within six months as part of moves to take the peace process to a logical conclusion. Second, the process of constitution making will be expedited in three months. Third, programmes to provide immediate and long-term relief will be announced.
Q: Given that the army integration is being seen as a very sensitive issue, will you let the current army chief General Rookmangud Katawal complete his tenure?
A: The demand of the time is to exercise maximum restraint. The country will suffer by any move that breeds bitterness at this juncture.
Q: So the suspicions about the army chief being sacked are misplaced? He will not be sacked, will he?
A: That will not happen. As long as everyone including the army, the police and the other officials remain committed to the people’s mandate on democracy, peace and change, no one needs to feel insecure. There will be no prejudice against any.
Q: How will you handle the army integration? The Nepali Army seems to have its own thought. How will you merge your combatants into the national army?
A: Now that I have become prime minister I have been travelling with the army security. I have found a serious commitment and sense of responsibility in the Nepali soldiers. I don’t think that we will face any problem in taking this (integration) process to a conclusion.
Q: If you had so much faith in Nepali Army, why did you distrust the NA and, instead, induct your combatants for your personal security?
A: I never showed such distrust. I never wanted to show any bit of distrust towards NA or police or PLA or armed police. Since last two years armed police and PLA personnel had been providing security to my residence in Naya Bazaar. This was an issue that needed a technical solution. I do not want to suspect anyone or make anyone feel humiliated. The PLA also should not feel that they have been orphaned now that I have become Prime Minister. I am quite sensitive on this matter. Both PLA and NA understand the issue very well.
Q: Among the 20,000 Maoist combatants in the cantonments, how many will be accommodated into the Nepali Army. What happens to the rest?
A: The PLA combatants who are staying in the cantonments and who have been verified by the United Nations are all eligible for rehabilitation and integration. According to our latest understanding, each and every PLA combatant will be given the freedom to choose whether he/she wants to return home or engage in other professions. Therefore, I am not in a position to say how many PLA combatants will be integrated and how many of them will return home.
Q: How long will the ex-King Gyanendra be allowed to stay in the Nagarjuna palace?
A: We are discussing this matter. The cabinet has just been expanded. It will take up the issue soon.
Q: Will you re-open the probe into the palace killings?
A: This issue will be raised at the Constituent Assembly. There have been no satisfactory answers yet to the people’s serious questions about the incident.
Q: Perhaps the people could raise similar questions about you also?
A: May be. But the people of Nepal have already justified our action –you call it civil war or people’s war -- through the constituent assembly verdict. Have the people ever justified the palace killings?
Q: Do you ever feel that you hands are stained with blood?
A: Sometimes in the event of grave mistakes on our part, I was emotional. But what is more important is the great process of transformation and the class, ethnic, regional and gender consciousness which have come about through our movement. So I do not feel the need to repent.
Q: Would you have visited China first if it had not hosted the Olympic Games?
A: Let’s not get into hypothetical questions. Since China is our neighbor and since we could not attend the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics, I went there for the closing ceremony. Anyway, it would not have been easier for me to go there first if there had been no Olympic.
Q: Since China is the land of your inspiration Mao Zedong, you must have harbored wishes to travel there?
A: I would be lying if I said no.
Q: What do you want to do with the 1950 Indo-Nepal treaty?
A: Nepal has become a republic passing through big changes since the Rana regime. So, the 1950 treaty should be clearly reviewed. It cannot be kept in the present form.
Q: What are the provisions that you do not like in the present treaty?
A: I am engaged in consultations on my visit to India soon. So, I do not want to reply to your question at this point.
Q: When are you visiting India?
A: I am going to attend the UN General Assembly. I will travel to India before that.
Q: You used to claim that different power centers were blocking your ascent to power. Have you defeated those centers now?
A: I cannot use the same language as I am Prime Minister now. I have said on many occasions that had any other party won the election, nothing would have stopped the formation of new government within a week. It took four months for us.
Q: You have defeated the King and elbowed out Girija Prasad Koirala. Do you feel that you have mastered the policy of use and throw?
A: I am pained by the allegations that we engage in use and throw. I never think that I have cheated anyone. But in course of advancing my cause, I might have made compromises and come closer to one or another at different times. But there was never any conspiracy there. It was our philosophy of cooperating with others to defeat the primary enemy.
Q: There are two schools of thoughts within your party – one favoring the People’s Republic and the other favoring Democratic Republic. Which one will prevail?
A: That is not the case. There is no illusion within our party regarding our ultimate goal of establishing a Socialist Communism. However, in the current national and international circumstances, we have decided to move ahead by institutionalizing the federal democratic republic.
Q: So, you want to establish a People’s Republic by means of the state of democratic republic?
A: We will definitely attempt to establish a People’s Republic by institutionalizing democratic republic and through the legitimate means like election. Once we attain that, we will then work to achieve socialism and communism.
Q: Will there be a people’s republic if your party wins a majority in the next election?
A: Let’s not understand this in a provocative manner. We will definitely try our best to ensure that the new constitution will be as close to the ideal of People’s Republic as possible. I believe that the constitution would pave the way for a People’s Republic, Socialism and Communism.
Q: How can it pave the way for communism when you have said there will be guarantee to all kinds of political freedom?
A: We have concluded that socialism without multiparty competition and political freedoms cannot survive. We have learned this from the experiences of Russia and other countries.
Q: What are you talking about, socialism or communism?
A: I am talking about socialism. A lively society can be built only if there are political freedoms and competitions within socialism. Communism is something like a heaven where there is neither a class nor a state nor an army. It will take hundreds of years to reach there.
Q: You are not in a mood to step down as party chairman even after becoming PM. Why?
A: Certainly, since I will not be able to devote adequate time and energy for the party after becoming the PM, other comrades will have to take more responsibility. But there is no rule anywhere in the world for the party chief to step down when he becomes PM. Besides, ours is a party that believes in central and unified leadership. So there is no question of abandoning one responsibility when taking up another.
Q: You once publicly said that top leaders will not join the government and act like Mahatma Gandhi?
A: What I said will happen only after a people’s constitution and a stable government are put in place. We believe that a leader does not need to stick to the position of a prime minister or a president once the revolution is completed, constitution is written and the country cruises on a stable course.
Q: Politicians are smart in playing with words, aren’t they?
A: Not at all, I have only tried to reply in a very direct manner.
Q: How long will your government survive?
A: It will continue till the constitution is written and the peace process is completed. I believe our party will win majority, even two-thirds majority in the next election. Then , our government will continue for another five years. We will improve our performance during that period. There will come a situation where people will start thinking that Maoists alone can run this country. In the subsequent election, we expect to win 90 percent votes and we will continue in power for many decades.
Q: You have high expectations. Do you believe they will be fulfilled?
A: Definitely. We have strong faith in people. We are devoted to the nation and the people. No one can severe our relation with the people.
Source: BBC Nepali Service/NepalNews (9.02)
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/others/interview/sep/interview02.php
* "Socialist Communism"??? WTF is that?
Socialism, according to the doctrine/theory of M/L, is the transition society (well, later - very likely - I'll write more about the issue!!) between capitalism and communism, the classless society, without any exploitation and oppression ("Communism is something like a heaven where there is neither a class nor a state nor an army", as Prachanda said in the interview).
Bangkok Celebrates "Direct Democracy"(Extreme)..
..and the gov't declares "state of emergency"
PPP (pro-gov't) "activists"...
...and PAD (anti-gov't) "activists"...
...are "coming together" (last night in Bangkok)...
...in behalf of the power struggle in the Thai ruling class!
"People's Power" Party (PPP) and People's Alliance for "Democracy" (PAD) are both representatives of the Thai bourgeoisie and the large land owners! For example: the ongoing anti-gov't protest (by the PAD supporters) is (partly) financed by the five most influential and wealthiest clans in Bangkok, and parts of the Thai bourgeois media (*)..
Well, there's only one real difference between the two fractions! The PPP has the power in current gov't (i.e. the state, as the instrument of power of the ruling class), incl. the state's finances/taxes.., the public "security" and "order"..
And the PAD has (unfortunately^^) NO power in the current gov't!!
Related articles:
☞ State of emergency declared in Thailand (Guardian, 9.02)
☞ Thai army chief rules out coup (al-Jazeera, 9.02)
☞ Unions to strike across country (Bangkok Post, 9.02)
☞ Thailand teeters on the brink (Asia Times, 9.02)
Last Saturday, only one day after Pushpa Kamal Dahal ("Prachanda") has been elected (*) as the first PM of the F.D.R. Nepal..
Anti-Miss Nepal campaigners meet PM; vow to stop the event
Members of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Revolutionary Women's Association met their party chief and Prime Minister elect Pushpa Kamal Dahal and discussed their campaign against Miss Nepal contest scheduled to be held next month.
Campaigners against Miss Nepal contest submitting a memorandum to newly...
The delegation members told the Prime Minister that they were determined to disrupt the contest, and sought help from the government for their move. In response, the Prime Minister said he was positive about the demand of women activists and assured he would discuss the matter with leaders of other parties.
Association's leader Amrita Thapa Magar who led the delegation told reporters that her organisation had vowed to disrupt Miss Nepal contest.
The women activists have described the beauty show as being socially unacceptable and as a tool to exploit the contesting women for commercial gain. Women organisations of some other parties including Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have also joined forces with the association...
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/aug/aug16/news04.php
* Prachanda elected PM with 464 votes (NepalNews, 8.15)
ISRAEL'S WET DREAMS
Today, exactly one week ago, the "prisoner exchange" between Israel and Hizbullah took place.
While Hizbullah claimed it THE MAIN VICTORY for the organization in the last 20 years (*), in Israel - only few hours after the exchange took place - a flood of really extreme strange articles/opinions were published in the (bourgeois) press.
Following you can "enjoy" just one of them, published last Thursday in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (**):
Day of infamy
‘Civilized’ is euphemism for weak, helpless; terrorists deserve death penalty
I was a new oleh (Jewish immigrant to Israel) when the PFLP and two Germans hijacked a plane full of Israelis to Entebbe. I remember well those nail-biting days, the moral dilemma of freeing dangerous terrorists for live hostages; the idea that negotiations would just lead to more hijackings. But what other choice did we have? After all, they were in Uganda, so far away.
We found a way.
I will never forget the morning of July 4, 1976, waking up to the news. Our soldiers had gone in, at great personal risk. They had saved almost everyone, and killed the terrorists. We were not helpless victims anymore, the Jews. No, we were clever, and resourceful and courageous. We showed the world how to behave.
We led the way.
I woke up the morning of July 16, 2008 with quite another feeling. Our soldiers, kidnapped on our own land, not across any international border, are brought back to us in caskets after two years of sadistic playfulness with the hearts of their families by Hizbullah terrorists, who led us to believe they were alive. And in exchange for dead bodies, we turn over a despicable baby-killer, Samir Kuntar (***).
Oh, you will hear the boosters of the Israeli government sigh. What can we do? We are civilized and they are not. We care about our soldiers and their families.
No, I’m afraid you do not. If you cared, then you would have a death penalty for people like Kuntar, so that they too can be released in caskets. And if you cared, you would be intelligent enough, seeing our soldiers brought back to us dead, to have put a bullet through Kuntar and then turned him over to his friends.
Civilized is a euphemism for weak and helpless. Civilized is not a moral value, because we all know what Western civilization is capable of. Concentration camps. Civilian round-ups, the gassing of children. All this under the banner of laws and policemen and governments. On the other hand, the moral thing to do to a tried and convicted murderer like Kuntar is to spill his blood, because he has spilled the blood of others. That may not fit in with current civilized niceties, but let no one say it is immoral.
Ashamed to be Israeli today
When it comes to immoral, to release Kuntar to a hero’s welcome and the opportunity to murder others is on the top of the scale.
My government, the Israeli government, arranged this. They let it happen. They oversaw it and implemented it. I am deeply ashamed to be an Israeli today. And I’m not very proud of being a Jew either, if this is how a Jewish country behaves. To lead the world in ever more despicable acts of appeasement is nothing to be proud of. The torch we always carried, the “light unto the nations” has been blown out by the hot-air of our politicians.
If we cared about our soldiers, we would not be showing our enemies that kidnapping and terrorism pay. We would not be setting the stage for the next murderous terrorist raid and hostage standoff. We would be passing laws with a mandatory death penalty for convicted terrorists with blood on their hands, as well as their accomplices. We would be making these laws retroactive.
Then, we would be cutting off all water and electricity to Gaza until Gilad Shalit is released. If that didn’t work, we’d begin executions within one week, increasing the number convicted terrorists facing firing squads with each passing day until Gilad is returned to us safe and sound. And if that didn’t work, we would begin daily bombings of Gaza, with the same number and frequency of attacks that our own city Sderot has suffered over the past three years from the Gazans. Not civilized? Perhaps. But moral. Extremely moral.
My fantasy is that Israelis will rise up and overturn the political system which has left them with the dregs of their nation as leaders - a bunch of self-serving crooks and sycophants who will do anything to stay in office; an electoral system in which a party like Kadima, with its collection of felons and moral imbeciles, who got only 23% of the vote, is allowed to rule us into the ground. We have Mr. Olmert, and Ms. Livni, and Mr. Peres, and Mr. Ramon (a convicted sex offender, who is now in line to take over from Olmert) and many, many others to thank, for creating this day of infamy.
May G-d redeem us from them.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3569608,00.html
* But there are also others in Lebanon who are not really convinced of Hizbullah's so-called "victory"! Referring to the 2nd Lebanon War (Summer 2006) triggered by the abduction of two IDF soldiers (with the only aim to get "bargain chips" for a prisoner exchange with Israel!), a Lebanese Web site pointed out the following "net losses":
- 1200 civilians dead - 400 of them under 13
- 4400 civilians injured - 700 permanently
- one million displaced from their homes
- 125,000 housing units destroyed or damaged
- 80% of some southern villages destroyed
- 38,850,951 sq.m. contaminated by cluster bombs
- 188 wounded by cluster bombs - 67 of them children
- 20 killed by left-over cluster bombs - five of them children
- $5 billion in economic damages
- $15b. in long-term costs to the economy
- $64 million cleanup of 12,000 tons of oil
- 91 bridges destroyed..
** incl. about 90 (mostly mad) comments by readers! Check it out here!!
*** S. Kuntar's "very special" salute (well, I think that everyone knows the real f... meaning of the notoriously salute..) after his release from Israel, during the "Rally of Victory" in Beirut (7.17), organized by Hizbullah:
Related articles (based on interviews with S. Kuntar):
☞ 'The girl screamed. I don't remember anything else' (Guardian, 7.19)
☞ Allah Willing, I Will Kill More Israelis (documented by MEMRI)
Last Friday the Guardian (UK) published following article about some (possible) new developments in Burma's movement against the dictarorship. While the report is - of course - interesting, in my opinion it's also somehow very concerning, if not even alarming (Why? I'll explain soon!):
Burmese Opposition Ready to Escalate pro-Democracy Fight
Members of Burma's battered and disparate opposition are growing disillusioned with the old methods of the pro-democracy movement and are seeking ways to escalate their armed struggle.
"There is a very real debate among us about how to begin a more sustained armed struggle," an organiser of last September's failed uprising told the Guardian. "We are ready for that kind of action, if we can get the supplies and training that we need."
Speaking from exile in Thailand, Soe Aung, the chief spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), an umbrella group representing nearly all facets of Burma's disparate opposition, said he was witnessing a significant shift in the public attitude across Burma.
"After the September uprising and then the terrible cyclone response, the anger is surging. Some are considering violent means … the Burmese people are not that kind of people, there has been a real change."
Soe Aung spoke openly of how covert Western support, primarily from the US state department-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its subsidiary the International Republican Institute (IRI), had been fundamental to the success of the uprising.
"The US is certainly doing the most for the opposition. There has been real success in training and forming an underground movement through religious organisations and monastic organisations. These provide the best cover inside Burma. The monks can spread their training very effectively."
The NED describes itself as a private organisation but was created by, and remains accountable to, the US Congress. Set up under the Reagan administration in 1983, it has since played a leading role in influencing civil society and electoral processes in countries around the world unfriendly to US interests.
According to Brian Joseph, the man in charge of the group's Burma project, the NED gave $3m (£1.5m) to Burma in 2007. "We would send more, but there is a limit to what you can do in Burma," said Joseph.
Opposition activists both inside and outside Burma largely describe the improvements in political awareness and spread of information as a result of NED-funded projects, but also attribute them to the introduction of the internet to Burma in 2003.
"We could see in September how the advances were utilised. It wasn't just the monks but a massive increase of awareness among Burmese of all types. This was thanks largely due to media organs, the Democratic Voice of Burma, satellite TV, and, of course, the internet," said Soe Aung.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/18/burma
Here the final, more detailed version of the article, published in the Guardian, 7.19:
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