I am writing this on the first day of a three day bandh (general work stoppage) called (imposed?) by the Maoists. I am writing this from a village just east of the main Maoist-controlled areas in Nepal. I have visited this village five times in the last eight years, and I have spent a combined period of about one year here. I have known this village since the inception of the "People's War". I have also walked around this whole district many times, as recently as two weeks ago. I talked with people from all walks of life in the district.

The first time I came here, in March of 1997, I didn't even know of the "People's War". It had just been launched a year before, and it remained very small -- small but growing. Many people in the village didn't know about it either at that time. However, they could come to know about it. It would come to dominate their lives.

Two years ago, just after the Royal Palace Massacre and just before the conflict exploded, I met a squad of 15 Maoists here in the village. They came in full uniform and carrying guns (older .303 rifles with wood stocks). I was somewhat impressed with them, although I still disagreed with their program in principle. At that time, I flirted with the thought that perhaps this may be an answer. Perhaps, in a country with as much poverty as Nepal, a communist government may be a better alternative than the existing government. Perhaps the economic leveling they would bring would outweigh their authoritarianism. Who was I to decide, anyway? I am poor and working class in my own country, but I have a great amount of privilege anyway. Who was I to decide what is best for people living hand to mouth, under modern serfdom?

Indeed, who am I to decide? I am not trying to decide what is best for others. I am trying to report on what others think, without the cloud of ideological obfuscation.

What I have found is that many people in rural Nepal support the "People's War" but that many more people resent it and even despise it.

I have my own standpoint and my own biases. Like Onesto, I also write from a privilege position of one who has the choice to leave Nepal and return to a first-world existence at any time. This is an international class bias. I also talk with and learn a lot from village schoolteachers, who make a salary of 4,000 to 7,000 Rs per month. This translates to 53 to 93 USD per month, which may not sound like a lot, but in the context of Nepal puts them above most people in terms of income. Thus, there is some class bias in what I learn from Nepali people as well. However, I speak to a broad range of people, including those with no monetary income or much smaller incomes, and those with and without land.

Another "bias" of mine is that I come from an anarchistic perspective. I have consistently critiqued both the government and the insurgents. I have always seen the conflict as a complex interaction in which both good and bad can come from each "side"; but the side that I am on is that of the people -- real people that I know and love, not 'the masses'. I have no love for the government of Nepal, and I have critiqued it consistently even before I heard of the "People's War". However, I have also consistently critiqued the platform and actions of the Maoists, mainly because they also aim to establish an authoritarian and hierarchical system of control which suppresses peoples' freedoms just as much as, if not more than, the government of Nepal.


Shutdown

As I mentioned, this is the first day of a three-day bandh, or general strike, declared by the Maoists. A week ago, I saw a young (18 years?) Maoist writing this on the water tap near the school. "Let's shut down Nepal, Asoj 1 to 3." (Asoj is a Nepali month, and these dates translate to September 18, 19, and 20.) This was written directly below the following: "Long live the People's Liberation Army of Nepal; death to the capitalist army."

There is no school today. Kids celebrate it like a snow day, but it is frustrating to those trying to run the school. They were not going to shut down the school unless they got a formal notice. They got a formal notice from the Maoists yesterday. Teachers have to put their lessons on hold. Kids lose a few days of learning. I am no fan of the education system in Nepal, but this is what exists now, and this is what the kids have to deal with. They struggle as it is to pass the School Leaving Certificate exam after tenth grade. They can't afford to miss too much schooling.

Although it is often translated as a "strike", this bandh is not a workers strike. The teachers resent the bandh. But if they are found to be working on a bandh day, they may be warned, kidnapped, beaten or killed by the Maoists, although killing usually only happens after repeated offenses. Beatings are common, combined with warnings that next time the offender won't be so lucky.

The bandh is a tactic the Maoists use to emphasize their strength and to hurt the economic life of the old regime.


Pretending

Many people I have spoken with say that life in Nepal now consists of pretending. It is possible to live in the context of the "People's War" but one must wear two or three faces. One for the Maoists. One for the State security forces. And a real face for people they trust.

One person I know well, who has been doing grassroots development work for his own village for 15 years, told me: "Being in Nepal now is about pretending. Actually, this is not too bad... Pretending can work... It works."

Life does not end, but pretending strips a bit of dignity from people.

The government never did much for people here in rural Nepal, but the government also never exercised much repression. Sometimes the government presented bureaucratic obstacles to people's development projects, but it rarely sent in troops to threaten peoples' lives. The government did brutally repress the land reform movement in Rolpa and Rukum districts, which was one of the leading causes of the Maoist "People's War" in the first place. But there were ways to work around the government, or under its radar, which did not lead to such repression.

People talk about Maoists in hushed voices. People are careful what they say, and where they say it. The general openness of Nepali people has been crushed. People have retreated, and now speak openly only with those they know well.


How to Fund a "People's War"

The teachers in this village have been asked to give one day's salary per month to the Maoists. Some of them have tried resisting this, and the school has gotten warnings. In order not to have the school destroyed, the school has requested the teachers to give the Maoists what they ask for. Other schools in the district have recently caught fire at around 10 or 11 p.m.

A man who runs a hotel along a trekking and pilgrimage route has been asked to give 1,000 Rs per month to the Maoists. He is struggling to get by and to feed his two sons. His wife has a heart problem, and had a stroke last year. She is paralyzed. He brought her to Kathmandu recently to get better treatment, but it costs a lot of money and he doesn't make much. This 1,000 Rs per months is quite a lot for him. It may break him. He told me that he worries all the time, and the only time he can feel some peace is after he smokes some sensemilla, which he proceeded to do. He offered me some. (It grows in his backyard.)

I was stopped along a trail by three Maoists and asked for 1,000 Rs, and amount that they said was a standard donation that they asked of all foreigners. I told them that if I gave them the money from my heart, then it is a donation. But since they were "asking" me for this money, and they had bombs and the implicit threat of other Maoists with guns, and they would not let me walk away if I gave less than 1,000 Rs, it is not a donation. It's more like a theft.

Indeed, they said they would pass my suggestions about respecting innocent people to their leaders. But they also took my 1,000 Rs. In my mind, I compared it to the payment of $30 for a visa to enter Nepal. By thinking of it that way I felt less violated, less like I had been mugged and more like I had been taxed. At least I am used to being taxed by governments. Nothing new here, sadly.


A Recent Clash, and Faulty Reporting

Two weeks ago, there was recently an incident about 3 hours walk from where I am staying. This happened two weeks ago. The Royal Nepal Army marched up from a medium-sized town to a location where Maoists were holding a mass meeting. Again, I was told that the Maoists were unarmed, except for socket bombs, which almost all Maoists carry. The Army also flew in two helicopters. They shot at the Maoists and forced them to flee. Miraculously, nobody was killed. One Maoist was injured and one child was injured. The child is okay. I don't know about the Maoist but I think s/he was okay. People in the village said they heard bomb blasts about three times. This was probably from Maoists tossing socket bombs at the army. I was told that this was how the child was injured.

I heard about this on local radio, from local people (news travels fast in the hills), and on the BBC a couple days later. The initial local report on Radio Nepal said that "about 50 rebels were killed". This is a pattern of the local news reportage -- exaggerating Maoist deaths and minimizing Army casualties.

The BBC report made no mention that the Maoists were said to be unarmed, and instead termed it a "gun battle" or a "firefight" and said that bombs exploded, thought to be set off by the Maoists. I don't know which is correct, but I tend to believe the local word-of-mouth reports from non-Maoists that the Maoists were mainly unarmed. The Army captured one gun and a sleeping bag, apparently.

Of English-language reporters, the only person I know of who has actually spent significant time in Maoist areas of Nepal is Li Onesto of the Revolutionary Worker. Daniel Lak, the BBC correspondent for Nepal, also visited a Maoist area briefly. Scott Baldauf, South Asia correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor wrote two stories on the situation as well, but only Onesto stayed in rural Nepal for months and wrote a complete series on the topic. There are more English-language writings on the conflict, for those who spend the time to dig deeper. There are many opinion pieces. There are, of course, the thousands of news stories in Kathmandu's English-language dailies and weeklies (mostly lists of districts and casualty counts). But not there is not much in terms of on-the-ground reportage.

Onesto's writings on the topic are very interesting and informative. However, they cover only one side of the conflict well -- the view from the perspective of members of the Maoists. And her visit was during the Spring of 1999, several years ago. In the quickly-changing situation of a guerrilla war, this is a long time ago. Additionally, Onesto approaches the topic from an ideological standpoint fully in support of the "People's War". Onesto also does not speak Nepali, was constantly escorted by party members, and was provided translations by party members.

Talking with more people, including one who lives in the village where the incident occurred, I still have the impression that people do not overwhelmingly support the Maoists. On the contrary, people feel obliged to _pretend_ to agree with them. They say that when Maoists come to their door, they are obliged to provide food for them, and to agree with them when they are asked their political opinions.

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Please excuse typos - not much time to edit in this context.