Articles by Saroj Giri

Why does the political agency of the Muslims and other so-called marginalised groups, so often end up arrayed against the liberal values of secularism, freedom of speech and liberty? This article argues that the structure of politics in the Indian republic is such that any marginalised group wanting to exercise autonomous political agency beyond the paternalistic reform allowed by the state, will end up appearing sectarian and illiberal.

Sections of the left do not want to intensify the political struggle of the poorest of the poor, but to - in one way or the other - revert to bourgeois "democracy", which is nothing but an instrument of class rule. The mantra seems to be to critique the present system without breaking with it in any fundamental way, and yet, condemn the Maoists as undemocratic.

To what extent is the Maoist project in Nepal headed towards a future proletarian state, which is what the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) claims in its party documents? Alternatively, is the project headed towards the formation of a radical left-nationalist, anti-imperialist state, fostering "economism"? The article first presents the main strands of social movement thinking, which are then critiqued for overlooking the question of political power and the deep structural unity between capital and the state. In contrast, it is subsequently pointed out, the Maoists have taken the question of political power as fundamental to their project of revolutionary social transformation. The paper argues that the Maoists' stated ideological objective of smashing the present state order and developing a new proletarian state does not seem to be adequately confirmed by the flow of their current practice. They seem unable to develop alernative organs of proletarian political power at the centre in order to consolidate the gains made in the base areas.