Nepal

"The message to us from Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Spain, and England  is simple: join in! Rise up! Our answer to them has to be yes. And it has to be yes to each other.

The follow piece first appeared in the Occupied Wallstreet Journal

photo credit: Jim Weill

by Eric Ribellarsi and Jim Weill

We arrived in Greece this summer just as street-fighting broke over Athens. For days the police rained tear gas on the people who occupied the capital’s main Syntagma Square.

People would disperse and reform right on the steps of the parliament. The subways were turned into medical centers for the wounded. There is a worldwide movement of rebellion and resistance building. What started in Tunisia and Egypt has shaken and overthrown governments, then jumped to Spain to Greece to England — and now to New York City and across the United States.

In Greece a generation is waking up. They call themselves the Indignant. They reject old politics and the old parties. They refuse to accept the cutbacks and austerity measures imposed by the global banks and the European Union. They are determined, angry and righteous.

They had challenges in Greece. Right-wing ultra-nationalists tried to infiltrate the movement. Police attacked. Some tired left parties condemned the movement saying it’s not focused on elections or minor reforms.

One popular symbol is the helicopter: the people want the Greek government to leave, resign, fly into exile. Or just get the hell out.

And why not here? If the people of Egypt can run out Mubarak, why can’t we run out the American politicians who serve the banks and brutalize us?

The banks are global. They have globalized their sweatshops and cutbacks. We are globalizing the rebellion.

A young woman who is active in this Greek movement of the squares told us:

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photo credit: Jed Brandt

Winter Has It's End is a blog of revolutionary journalism. We aim to give on the ground reporting, telling the story of the people who are fighting for a better world. We want to provide a picture as their struggle to realize their aspirations unfolds: Who are these people? What drives them to fight? What kind of world are they trying to bring into being? What stands in their way?

We have already given eye witness accounts from Nepal and Greece where people are struggling, living, dying to change everything. We intend to draw lessons from these movements. Our rebellions and our revolution will have much to learn from their trials, obstacles, and triumphs.



We write this as the occupations movement picks up steam in the U.S. It is a shocking, but fledgling movement. It is unclear how it will evolve and where it will go.

But it is something extraordinary.

Read from some of our top stories below for coverage, and lessons, from Nepal and Greece. Stay tuned for eye witness reports and analysis of the uprisings in the U.S. as they unfold.

 

Eyewitness to Greece: Arriving into a Whirlwind

By Eric Ribellarsi


“I arrived twelve hours ago in Athens, and rushed to find the crowds of street-fighters. The police tear gas has already hit around me about twenty times. Athens’ Syntagma Square has for weeks been the site of the People’s Assemblies, huge rallies that challenge the government’s plans. Tonight this Square, the very heart of Greece, is a battleground where the police and resistors have been fighting face to face, line against line.”

“And even despite all of this, the word is that the austerity measures and budget cuts were passed anyway. People say that tomorrow, they will attempt to storm the parliament.”

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The following is from Uday Magar, a young Nepali Maoist from Thewang in Rolpa, the village where the Nepali people's war began. Uday advocates for the continuation of the Nepalese revolution, and wrote a statement on the lynching of Troy Davis in the United States.

We are shocked by this brutal act of America. We can prove that it is America who is guilty of murdering our friend, TROY DAVIS.

The question is: who is going to punish the murderer? The answer is: US.

A part of America is occupied by machines that reject love and justice. Even after it was proven that TROY DAVIS is an innocent man, he was inhumanly murdered. It's crystal clear that America cruelly kills every hope that is likely to oppose it. It mercilessy murders the minds that show signs of opposition to its plans.

We are one with the big part of America that favours a society free of domination and discrimination in the name of race,color, caste, and class.

We are one Troy Davis who has bee murdered. We are all Troy Davis, and we will not die silently, but instead struggle strongly to establish the only nation in our imagination - A NATION OF WORKERS

YOUTH OF THE WORLD-UNITE!

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The following is the next installment in our 'Poetry of Nepal's Revolution' series.  We want to continue to share some of the poetry which has been inspired by and helped inspire the revolution unfolding in Nepal.  The following is a poem by Dil Sahni, coordinator of the M.A. English Department at Butwal Multiple Campus, Nepal.  Dil Sahni is a renowned writer, professor, and Maoist sympathizer.

We will be posting a running series of these over the coming days.  Stay tuned.

"What your were in the past, Comrade, you are not in the present"

Comrade

Comrade!

When you were in the street

You spoke revolution

Comrade!

When you were in the slums

You spoke liberation

Comrade!

When you were with the people

Like the fish in the water

You spoke Marxism

You spoke Leninism

You spoke Maoism

You spoke so much

Socialism and Communism

And what not

But now Comrade!

When you are in the chair

You do not hear

What the street would say to you

But now Comrade

When you are in your heavenly kingdom

You do not visit the slums

Even just to confirm

Whether they are happily dead

Or still alive

But now Comrade!

When you are in the palace

You do not face the people

even just to ascertain

What complaints they would make

Frankly speaking

If you don't mind

What you were in the past Comrade

You are not in the present

You are wonderfully changed

When nothing is changed

with your kind permission

May I ask you the crux of the question

O Comrade!

Are you still a Comrade

Or everything

Except a Comrade.

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We are in urgent need of your contributions to continue our work.

Right now, we are working to take Winter Has its End from a summertime project to a long term international reporting project.  This means doing national speaking tours in the U.S. and reporting on not just Greece and Nepal; but traveling to and reporting from other places around the world where people are rising up.

But, right now we are having trouble even paying the costs of our current reporting.

rebellions in Greece, photo credit: Eric Ribellarsi

We need your support.  Donations are needed from you and anyone you know who has been following our reporting.

We are aiming to give on the ground reporting, telling the story of the people who are fighting for a better world. We want to provide a picture as their struggle to realize their aspirations unfolds: Who are these people? What drives them to fight? What kind of world are they trying to bring into being? What stands in their way?

We have already been providing coverage for the last several months from Greece and now Nepal. We've done our best to both speak to broad audiences as well as draw lessons for revolutionaries in the U.S. and around the world.

Please support this project.

 

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