live-wire wrote: > girija's socialist party is a liberal alternative to >the communists and hardliners like maoists. I am of the opinion that NC and the Left of Nepal got mistaken identities. Below is an excerpt from one of my postings to Nepal Democracy Forum (nepaldemocracy google group) some two months ago. [The members of the group can access the full posting here: http://groups.google.com/group/nepaldemocracy/msg/057d14b8db737dbd?hl=en ] For others, here is an excerpt: 1) The Left of Nepal was and is MORE pro-democracy and MORE democratic than NC. NC always was and still is for sharing the power with the King. The Left was for total power to the people. Nothing more, nothing less. 2) The Left in Nepal has never planned to actually establish a totalitarian regime (that is, with NC banned) in Nepal. Nowhere and nowhen have they envision a regime with bourgeois democratic parties banned. Their idea of communism is limited to their flag, trademark and rhetoric here and there. It isn't in their program planned to implement. Look at it this way. Communism/Marxism to them is what evangelical Christianity is to George Bush. The reasoning/likelihood of Nepali Left trying to establish a communist state in Nepal is lesser than President Bush trying to establish a 'kingdom of God' in the USA. Marxism as a science to Nepali Left is as reliable as 'In God We Trust' of the American establishment. The irony of political identity in Nepal is that NC got a face of democracy but a heart of submission to the monarchy and the Left got a face of a communist but a heart of total democracy. That reminds me a short moral story by Khalil Gibran I had read a long time ago (I am not sure about the accuracy). The story was that one day the 'beauty' and the 'ugliness' went to take a bath in a river together. The 'ugliness' came out of the river while the 'beauty' was still enjoying the bath and went away putting on the dress of the 'beauty'. When the 'beauty' came out of the river and did not find her dress, she put on what was left there- the dress of 'ugliness'. Since then they are roaming on the earth in the same dress. There isn't a bath-taking event for analogy, however, NC and the Left in Nepal have ironical identities. This probably is not going to last long. Recent history is bringing everybody closer to the truth. It's another fact that some diaspora elites still might choose to keep their anti-Left disposition and rhetoric which I would call "acting more American than the Americans", for it's perceived adaptive value in the US soil. _________________________