Between Vishnu and Mao Zedong: The Maoist Movement in Multi-ethnic Nepal

Natalia Bloch

Published: 2011-01-01

2011

Between Vishnu and Mao Zedong: The Maoist Movement in Multi-ethnic Nepal

Natalia Bloch

Abstract

This article attempts to explain the circumstances that led to a Maoist movement’s success in gaining public support in the world’s only Hindu state. A “people’s war” lasting more than a decade waged by the movement led to the end of two and a half centuries of monarchical rule. How was it possible to instil the idea of class struggle in a society in which there was no working class? Such questions are part of a wider debate about the feasibility of transplanting political categories that were created in Europe (Maoism derives from Marxist-Leninism) to other cultures, and the processes by which they can be adapted to local contexts. In the case of Nepal, an important role was played by the complex ethnic relations in the country, and the social inequalities resulting from these, which the Maoists skilfully exploited

Keywords:

Nepal, maoism, South Asia, people’s war, ethnic relations, social inequality

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Natalia Bloch, We Are No Monks. Narrating the Self Through New Tibetan Exile Cinema , Ethnologia Polona: Vol. 37 (2016): Ethnologia Polona: HIMALAYAN AND TIBETAN IDENTITIES IN CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Bloch, N. (2011). Between Vishnu and Mao Zedong: The Maoist Movement in Multi-ethnic Nepal. Ethnologia Polona, 169–189. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/ethp/article/view/620

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Abdi S. N. M., 2004, Power play (originally published in: The Sunday Times of India 04.11.2001), [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, red. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 385–387
Asia Pacific. Enforced Disappearances in the Asia Pacific Region Must End 2008, Amnesty International, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA01/010/2008/en/53905532-750f-11dd-8e5e-43ea85d15a69/asa010102008en.pdf
Bhattacharjya Satarupa, 2008, Red Terror, India Today, February 11, pp. 30–37
Bista Dor Bahadur, 2004, People of Nepal, Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu
Dębnicki Krzysztof, 1981, Nepal. Królestwo wśród chmur, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa
Dębnicki Krzysztof, 2005, Współczesna historia Królestwa Nepalu, Wydawnictwo Akademickie Dialog, Warszawa
Giełżyński Wojciech, 2001, Nepal. Horror i sielanka, Wydawnictwo Kurpisz, Poznań
Jagielski Wojciech, 2010, Maoiści atakują Indie, Gazeta Wyborcza, 29–30 maja, p. 8
Kłodkowski Piotr, 2007, Nepalski dylemat, Znak, Vol. 59, No. 7–9, pp. 97–106
Mainali Mohan, 2004, “Development” vs the Maobaadis, [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 125–127
Majupuria Trilok Chandra, Kumar Rohit, 2008, Religions in Nepal, M. Devi, Lashkar
Menon Amarnath K., 2008, The Siege Within, India Today, February 11, pp. 38–42
Mikesell Stephen L., 2004, The Paradoxical Support of Nepal’s Left for Comrade Gonzalo, [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 35–41
Muni S. D., 2004, Maoist Insurgency in Nepal. The Challenge and the Response, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
Nepal. A Spiralling Human Rights Crisis 2002, Amnesty International, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA31/016/2002/en.
Nepal Statistics Indigenous Peoples, 2006, Nepal Tamang Ghedung, Kathmandu
Not Everyone Carries a Gun in a Revolution. Interview with Baburam Bhattara,i 2004 (originally published in: Sahara 10.12.2000, trans. from: Nepali Times 22–28.12.2000), [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 381–383
Onesto Li, 2000, Red Flag Flying on the Roof of the Word. Interview with Prachanda, Revolutionary Worker, No. 1043, http://revcom.us/a/v21/1040-049/1043/interv.htm
Onesto Li, 2004, Interview with Comrade Prachanda (originally published in: A World to Win, No. 27, 2001), [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 211–221
Onesto Li, 2004, Report From the People’s War in Nepal, [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 151–179
Raj Prakash A., 2007, Crisis of Identity in Nepal, Pilgrims Publishing, Varanasi
Security Tightened Along Prithvi Highway, 2005, The Kathmandu Post, Vol. XII, No. 356, 14 February
Sharma Sudheer, 2004, The Maoist Movement. An Evolutionary Perspective, trans. J. Thapa (paper given a conference organised by the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, entitled The Maoist Movement in Nepal: Context, Causes and Implications, 02–03.11.2001), [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 361–380
Shrestha Shyam, 2004, Nepali Cart Before Horse (originally published in: Himal South Asia, Vol. 10, No. 5, September–October 1997), [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 53–57
Thapa Deepak ed., 2004, Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu
Tiwari Chitra, 2004, Maoists Seek a Democratic Nepal. Interview with Baburam Bhattarai (originally published in: Washington Times, 14.12.2002), [in:] Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. D. Thapa, Chautari Books Series, Kathmandu, pp. 329–335 Google Scholar