Prime Minister Prachanda has said that the two neighboring countries India and China cannot leave Nepal behind languishing in under-development while they continue to march towards prosperity.
Speaking at a programme organised to celebrate 'Waterfall festival' in Okhaldhunga district, Thursday, PM Dahal said, "It will not be good for them if India and China leave us behind. I have told this during my meeting with leaders of both the countries."
He, however, added that if Nepal becomes more prosperous than India and China, it will have positive effect on the whole region.
At the programme, PM Prachanda recalled how he dreamed of building east-west highway through middle hills in the past.
"Even during the period of people's war, I used to dream about the east-west highway across the middle hills with link roads in places," he said
Statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines November 07, 2008
Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential elections reflects the American people's overwhelming rejection of the militarist and neoconservative Bush regime. Obama, who ran under the Democratic Party, presented himself purportedly as an antithesis of the Republican George W. Bush. He took advantage of the current intense and widespread disenchantment of the American people, especially in the face of the US political and military disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worst economic crisis in the US since the Great Depression.
Imperialism' s continuing policies of global hegemonism, plunder and war, however, blur the line of demarcation between Democrats and Republicans- -between Obama and Bush--and show that they simply represent two factions of the US monopoly bourgeoisie. The current deepening recession and desperation in the US and the world capitalist system is pushing the US to intensify imperialist exploitation, plunder and oppression in its home country and its semicolonies, covet more areas for expansion and wage wars of counter-revolution and aggression.
The US will continue to expand its military-industrial complex, flex its military muscle and wage big and small wars in order to pursue its hegemonism, prevent rivals from carving up its vast empire, and seize new markets and territories for greater imperialist plunder and clout. The escalation of US imperialist aggression is a matter of fact, especially in the face of the global economic crisis.
Obama will only serve as US imperialism' s new lead instrument for all this. Shrouded in his Democratic Party and populist rhetoric, US hegemonism and aggressiveness only becomes more devious. This is not unprecedented, even among US rulers from the Democratic Party. The populist US president John F. Kennedy launched the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. He and his successor Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the Vietnam war throughout the 1960s. "New Deal" president Franklin Delano Roosevelt employed World War II to revive the US economy from the Great Depression.
Obama has repeatedly vouched for the Bush-initiated war of terror and is actively gathering support for continued US military interventionism especially in the oil-rich regions of the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia. He has specifically advocated sending an additional 10,000 troops to Afghanistan and carrying out unilateral strikes at its borders with Pakistan, on the pretext of going after the al-Qaeda. While calling for the eventual withdrawal of American troops in Iraq, he has also made clear that the US will continue to exert its military presence there in order to ensure that the puppet Iraqi government will carry out US dictates.
Last June, Obama also advocated continuing military intervention in the Philippines saying that he will support the Balikatan military exercises in line with the "friendship" between the US and its neocolonial client state. He has completely disregarded the fact that the Balikatan is used to camouflage the building up of permanent US military presence and interventionism in the country in outright violation of Philippine sovereignty. He has called for the further expansion of programs to supply weapons to the Philippine military, in utter disdain of the several hundreds of thousands victimized by the Arroyo regime's Oplan Bantay Laya being waged under the tutelege and support of the US military.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) urges the Filipino people, as well as the American people, and the people in the semicolonies of the US and other countries fighting for national liberation and democracy not to allow themselves to be beguiled by the deceptions of the newly elected American president. The CPP is confident that the working class and people of the world will persist with resoluteness in their struggle against imperialism and reaction, and for the attainment of national and social liberation, democracy and progress.
Statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines
A central leader of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has said that his party and the Maoists have agreed to change the Terms of Reference of the special committee on army integration.
Following the meeting between the high-level mechanism of the two parties, Thursday, UML leader Bhim Rawal said, "We did not find big difference between the current ToR and the seven-point agreement reached a few months ago. But there were some differences, which we decided should be corrected so that the ToR is completely in line with the agreement among the parties."
The decision to change the ToR was made in order to attract the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) to join the special committee.
"The NC, too, has been saying that the special committee should be in line with the seven point agreement," Rawal said.
Owing to the non participation in the committee by NC, it has not been able to start its function.
Minister for Law and Constituent Assembly Dev Gurung on Wednesday suggested amendment of the interim constitution so that a referendum could be held to settle the issue of army integration which has been subject of dispute in the national political scene lately.
Speaking to reporters at Pokhara airport where he arrived after finishing a 4-day visit of his home district Manang, Minister Gurung stated that nowhere in the interim constitution has it been mentioned that a referendum would be conducted for integration of Maoist combatants into Nepal Army (NA).
So the interim constitution can be amended so that referendum can be used as the "ultimate weapon", the Maoist minister added.
He said that NC should be assured of a place in the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC), but at the same time made it clear that the army integration process would go ahead even if there is no participation of the party in it.
NC has been saying that AISC was unilaterally formed by the Maoists without any consultation with other parties and have demanded that it be dismantled as the Terms of Reference (ToR) for it is against the past pacts and understanding reached on army integration.
CPN (UML) has also criticised NC of trying to shy away from its responsibilities by not agreeing to participate in the AISC, even though it agrees that ToR violates pacts on army integration
After the Democratic Party Republicrats so-called election euphoria and celebrating is over, the Obama / Biden Republicrat regime will get down to the business of placing the ongoing exploitation of the every day people of this nation on fast track.
The masses of Black Americans, along with the oppressed and exploited Brown, Red, Yellow, and White peoples of this nation will learn first hand that, notwithstanding the deceptive Obama rhetoric, exploitation nationally and internationally will be intensified.
The “clash between those who want freedom, justice, equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation” about which Malcolm X referred, will be intensified under Barack Obama, with Obama representing the interests of the oppressors. The political contradictions in this regard will also be increasingly obvious.
Those so-called leftist and progressives who were and are collaborators with U.S. Empire will, for a time, try to pretend that their support of Barack Obama was not a sell out, and that they simply need more time to persuade the U.S. Empire’s colored corporate emperor to do the right thing. Meanwhile, Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and White peoples will be enduring an unprecedented rate of economic and social suffering.
The anger of the people will ultimately peak and explode, as a result of having bought into false hope and raised expectations. This is precisely why the U.S. corporate government has already made military contingency plans to contain and massively quash dissention within the United States. Barack Obama will serve to provide his corporate / military masters with colored political cover for political repression in this nation; and he will have already provided a small respite of wiggling room for them in this regard.
Nevertheless, as brutal reality forces the proverbial scales of blindness to drop from eyes of the masses, it will become crystal clear that the supposed “change” to which Barack Obama referred in his campaign rhetoric, was nothing more than a vicious ruse of double-speak by him, backed by his corporate and military handlers.
Indeed, the emperor will be shown to “have no clothes.” But what of the fate of millions of Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow peoples inside the U.S.? How many horrible sacrifices will have been, and will yet need to be made by the people in order to get the boot of economic blood-sucking and political repression off their / our necks?
Extract from an article by Larry Pinkey in Black Commentator.com, he is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Thanks to Kasama for publishing full article and bringing to our attention.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Guatam, who heads the special committee for army integration, has said the panel will not be reconstituted as demanded by some parties including the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC).
Speaking at the Reporters Club Tuesday, Gautam said even though the government is not ready to reconstitute the special committee it would try to bring the NC into it because the involvement of the NC would be significant to ensure the army integration process goes smoothly.
He also made it clear that the committee would go ahead with its work even if the NC refuses to join it. He said the peace process would no produce desired results if the army integration process goes wrong.
Expressing confidence that army integration process would be completed without hassle, he said the Maoist combatants would be integrated with the Nepal Army and other security agencies under the existing recruiting standards.
Apart from integrating them with security bodies, the Maoist combatants would be given career choices in other sectors, Gautam added.
Similarly, the Deputy Prime Minister defended his controversial drive against Kathmandu's night restaurants and street shops and said he was determined to give a sense of security to the general public.
He also called for dismantling of the youth wings of the Maoists and the CPN (UML).
"Youth Force [of UML] and Young Communist League should be dissolved immediately because they are taking law into their hands," Gautam, who is a standing committee member of the UML, said.
According to him, the Prime Minister has given him direction and authority to act tough against the unruly activities of YCL and YF.
Party of the Committees to Support Resistance – for Communism (CARC) - Italy
Via Tanaro 7, 20128, Milano
Tel. +39 0226306454
e-mail resistenza@carc. it
website www.carc.it
3 November 2008
Open letter to individuals, groups, organizations, parties who struggle against imperialism, for defending the rights of the people masses and for the new birth of the communist movement Dear comrades,
On 5th November in Ancona ( Italy ) it will be held the preliminary hearing for the Tenth Judiciary Proceeding the Italian Authorities framed up against the “caravan” of the (new) Italian Communist Party.
The public prosecutor Marco Pucilli of Ancona leads the inquiry. Comrades of the Party of the Committees to Support Resistance -for Communism (P- CARC) and of the Association for Proletarian Solidarity (ASP) are charged with “slandering the Public Prosecutor Paolo Giovagnoli”, because they called him with his true name, the “new Torquemada”.
The judiciary proceeding the Public Prosecutor Marco Pucilli frames up goes with the appeal to the Supreme Court the judge Giovagnoli did against the “non – suit” judgement of the Judge for the Preliminary Hearings Rita Zaccariello on 1st July. Also the General Attorney of Bologna did an appeal as regards the matter, and this is a deed absolutely exceptional and extraordinary.
This attack brings into question all Communists’ freedom of political activity. It is an attack to the entire communist movement of our country, to all opponents, to all the people who rebels and struggles against the Berlusconi’s gang, the Vatican and US imperialists for defending the rights of people’s masses, for conquering other ones and breaking up once and for all the capitalist system and building a world led by workers.
Communists’ persecution is the core of the struggle between people’s masses and imperialist bourgeoisie: only the Communists who act as true Communists are able to direct the working class and the other people’s masses in the struggle for breaking up the present state of things and establishing socialism, that is the only other possible world.
The persecution of Communists in Italy , and particularly the persecution against the caravan of the (new)PCI, is an operation aimed to prevent the people's masses from defending themselves facing the attack the imperialist bourgeoisie moves against their rights, their conquests and also their elementary vital needs, the more the present crisis goes on. It is an operation aimed to transform this defence in attack, in struggle for making the revolution in an imperialist country.
The imperialist bourgeoisie does not let to the people's masses either the right to defend themselves. What happened at Rome some days ago testifies it. For many weeks in Italy a movement for defending the State education, involving millions of people, is going on. At Rome , in Navona Square , people were demonstrating for defending State education. The police let enter a camion of fascists, armed with beats and bars, and let them go wild against the protesters. It intervened only when the protesters organized themselves and counter-attacked. So it is for decades against the caravan of the (n)PCI, because for decades it has worked for organizing people's masses starting from the defence of their interests, for making Italy a new socialist country.
An international answer to this repressive attack is important, because it means to defend the rights the Resistance against Nazi fascism conquered, and these conquests belong also to the international communist movement, because their importance goes beyond Italian borders.
An international answer to this umpteenth attack is even more of a defence of our patrimony. It is a sign of the new birth of the world communist movement.
We call you:
·for taking a public stand and making take a public stand against Communists' persecution,
·for signing and making sign the call “No to Communists' persecution”
·for sending and making send the fax to the Judge for Preliminary Hearing Paola Murreddu of Ancona (Republic Attorney of Ancona Tribunal, fax 0039 (0)71.50.62.252 , e-mail procura.ancona@ giustizia. it)
·for sending messages to adhere to the demonstration our Party and the Association for Proletarian Solidarity are organizing on 5th November, in front of the Ancona Tribunal.
We also call you for sending messages to adhere to the demonstration we shall hold at Rome in front of the Supreme Court of Appeal, in solidarity with the antifascists who on 11th March 2006 at Milan opposed a Nazi - fascist parade, who on that day are on trial, and against the appeal to the Supreme Court did by Giovagnoli and the General Attorney of Bologna.
KATHMANDU, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The two ruling communist parties in Nepal on Sunday formed a high-level coordination committee to ensure better coordination between them and advise the government on important issues.
Senior leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), led by its chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda", and the coalition party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), held a meeting on Sunday and decided to form the 12-member committee with senior CPN-M leader Mohan Baidya, also known as "Kiran" and former CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal as coordinators, local news website Nepalnews.com reported.
"A joint coordination committee has been formed to hold discussions on mutual relations between the two parties and to advise the government," another local news website eKantipur quoted CPN-M spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara as saying after the meeting.
"We decided to further discuss the issues relating to government operation tomorrow," said CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal.
Besides the formation of the committee, the ruling partners have formed two separate investigation committees to look into the clashes between their cadres erupting recently.
The cadres of CPN-M youth front Young Communist League (YCL) and the CPN-UML's Youth Force have been engaged in frequent clashes in various parts of the country recently.
They also discussed the inclusion of the opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) representative into the special committee for army integration. They have agreed to take measures from their side to persuade the NC to join the committee.
The Nepali government formed a five-member special committee on Oct. 28 to oversee the management, integration and rehabilitation of the CPN-M combatants monitored by UN. The committee has still one seat vacant, which was assigned to the opposition party, NC.
Prime Minister and CPN-M chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" and CPN-UML general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal were also present at the meeting.
Top leaders of the two parties will again meet on Monday to further discuss ways to resolve their differences on a number of issues including the tricky issue of army integration, leaders said.
Prachanda was elected the prime minister on Aug. 15, and the republic cabinet got its final shape on Aug. 31.
The World Bank plans to provide $36 million aid package to Nepal to enhance its anti-poverty programme, including access to food and basic needs for vulnerable households in the impoverished nation.
The World Bank pledged to provide $19 million grant assistance and $17 million soft loan totaling $36 million financial aid package to the Maoist-led government to enhance its access to food and basic needs for vulnerable households in food insecured districts.
Lakhs of people in the impoverished nation, particularly those living in western Nepal, have been facing acute food shortages over the last few months due to poor crops production.
The situation of food shortage has been made worse due to poor accessibility and communication system in the Himalayan nation that has made delivery of relief difficult.
The WB assistance, being provided in three phases under the social safety net project, will be utilised mainly to purchase fertilizer, seed and food grains.
World Bank's Country Director for Nepal Susan G Goldmark inked a memorandum of understanding in this regard with Nepal's Finance Secretary at the Finance Ministry.
