Criticism
This is a list of criticisms I have of the UCPN(M) Maoist. I’m doing my best to keep this site as neutral as is possible given the inherently asymmetric nature of the subject matter. This means that I must avoid being “Anti-Maoist.” But, as most official media, both in and outside the country tend to have an intrinsic anti-Maoist bent for a myriad of reasons, a voice that sometimes considers their point of view will appear by comparison to favor them. Hence:
1. Maoists abuse human rights.
I find myself on repeated occasions re-asserting that the Maoists abuse human rights slightly less then the government of Nepal. Nevertheless, abusing human rights slightly less than one of the worst human rights abusers on the continent is not something to be proud of.
2. Maoists use Child Soldiers.
Yes, they do. If you are an international Maoist supporter, you may have a hard time believing it, but they do. The Maoists do indeed have a policy that states members of both the PLA and Militia must be over the age of 18. However, they obviously do not strictly enforce this policy. There are constant media distortions, so I withheld judgment until I saw it myself. Since the verification process in the cantonments began this has become obvious.
3. The Maoists have been known to lie.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EoQYZ2oa6M&hl=en&fs=1]
Of course, they weren’t only lying to UNMIN. Deep the Medic, who I interviewed shortly after the ceasefire in 2006, insisted that there were something like 70,000 troops in the PLA, and that the reason there didn’t seem to be so many around was because they were home visiting their families. Committed Maoist supporters will have a hard time finding fault with the video as it also drives home that the Maoists don’t regard the peace process as a means of integrating into mainstream politics, but as a means to victory. This is something that I have consistently pointed out. Yet, what is disheartening about what this reveals is the low intrinsic value the Maoists attach to the truth. This particular policy of denial has come to hurt them strategically at a moment of great importance. Yet, had it not been revealed, and successfully ushered them into power, it’s very success would have served to corrupt the integrity of whatever institutions they crafted as a result.
4. Marxism (and therefor Maoism) is not a science.
Throughout Maoist literature is the constant refrain that it is Maoism is “scientific.” Implied in this assertion is that Maoism has a superior understanding of objective reality, and on some level enjoys a Monopoly on “truth.” This is a dangerous conviction, and it’s continued application is a slippery slope that leads towards a religious deference to the Party and the State. Marxism is, in fact, an aspect of social science that enjoys equal validity with the Realism of Waltz or the Liberalism of Thomas Friedman. If Marxism was a hard science along the lines it claims to be it would be based on falsifiable experimentation, not subjective interpretation of past experience. One can say that the Maoists take a “Scientific Approach” to their ideology, but so do economists with decidedly free market ideology. Futurist, Jaron Lanier, once wrote, “the biggest problem of any theory (esp. ideology) is not that it is false, but when it claims to be the sole and utterly complete path to understanding life and reality.” Maoism exhibits this flaw consistently, and most so in claiming it’s “scientific” nature.
More to follow…
The original post has a far more interesting series of comments