Resolution of the Anti-imperialist Camp Assisi 2003

For a Constituent Assembly in Nepal!

The popular masses of Nepal are today subject to the dictatorship of the royal family and the upper castes backed by Indian expansionism and US imperialism. A vast majority is doomed to live in abject misery being denied basic political, social and human rights. Especially affected are the religious, ethnic and tribal minorities as well as the lower castes which often coincide.

The imposition of democracy from above by the king in the early 90s miserable failed as the social, cultural and political situation of the masses subsequently did not improve. On the contrary, the neo-liberal recipes deteriorated the situation while in parliament the interests of the popular masses were not given voice.

By 1996 the Maoists launched a people´s war campaign meeting the support of the poorest and most excluded strata of society. Large parts of the Western mountainous regions with the population most discriminated against is under the military control of the Maoist guerrilla.

As the conflict grew more and more violent and the request for peace became wide-spread the Maoists offered peace talks with the government. While they keep striving for popular power, their proposal for the peace talks is a constituent assembly in which the people will choose according to their own will the political system they wish. Meanwhile the struggle of for the constituent assembly has been gathering support among the big majority of the population including the urban middle classes. This is being reflected in the fact that even some parliamentary parties support this elementary democratic demand.

Threatened by popular discontent the monarchy categorically rejects a constituent assembly. The king has broken off the peace negotiations and de facto dismissed the government. Already during the talks the royal state had been constantly violating the "code of conduct" which was agreed upon in order to set the preconditions for negotiations. Now the king is ruling by emergency state violating the constitution. Savage repression is reigning not only targeting the Maoist guerrilla but also against any democratic utterance.

Both India and the USA are planning and preparing to smash the popular movement connected to the armed insurgency led by the Maoists. India is persecuting Nepalese Maoists and democratic activists on their soil as well as lending military and police support to the monarchy. The USA have already set up military posts in Nepal and are deploying "military advisers".

The Anti-imperialist Camp supports the popular liberation movement in Nepal and its struggle for a constituent assembly. The people´s war and the construction of revolutionary armed forces are a necessary condition to smash the monarchy and move forward to popular power and socialism.

However, as Nepal is wedged in between two giant powers namely India and China opposed to an anti-imperialist social revolution, an international solidarity movement and especially the development of the Indian revolutionary forces are indispensable. As a matter of urgency we have to defend those democratic and revolutionary militants being persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and often murdered both by the Nepalese and Indian state.

Therefore the international conference "Mumbai Resistance 2004" scheduled for January 17-20 in Mumbai will try to raise this matter on a global scale.