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P H I L I P B L E N K I N S O P

M  A  O  B   A  D  I

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Nepalganj 2004
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My Maoist companions and I, arriving in Dailekh village to a fanfare of drums and red salutes. 2001 Western Nepal.
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Mahangu CHAUDHARI.  Delta region near Rajapur in western Nepal. 2004

" About two years ago (April 2002) at about one am security forces (armed police) came to our house and took away our son Mohan 20y.o.
​My wife and Mohan’s wife grabbed Mohan but security forces threatened them with guns and beat them to the ground with rifle butts.

My son was working on the land. He was the only person able to work the land. Now I am left to work the land. I am old, I don’t know how many years, maybe fifty. My remaining son is only eight years. I have two daughters, twelve and nine years old.
Previously I used to work my own land, as well as the land of land lords on a sharecropping basis. (work the land, shared costs and shared returns. 50/50)
Now I can only work my land but it is getting more difficult for me as I get old.
The produce of my land is not enough to feed my family. I am very worried about our future and I cannot take the time to look for my son.
We all work together in the field, me my wife and our two daughters.
Human rights organization documented our case and took photos and told us they would help to find our son but there have been no results.
Mohan’s wife has a son, Sanam and they live now with her mother for one year because our life has become so difficult. I am very much worried for my grandson. He was just nine days old when they took his father away.
In all, they took eight people from our village that night. (six boys and two girls)
My wife has travelled with the other mothers and female relatives four times to Tikapur armed police barracks and twice to NepalGunj to visit Human Rights Organizations, four times to Gulariya to the Chief District’s Office and Chief police Office. "


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Comrade VIVEK. 25 y.o. Near LAMKI town. Western Nepal.

" I come from a middle class family in a large city in India. During my parents’ time they were very poor and moved to India where my father found a job. I was born in India and studied there.
I came to Nepal in 1996 to visit my parents’ house and travel through Nepal.
First I visited the hills where my parents were born. It is a very remote area but I cannot say where. After one year in the hills I began to teach mathematics in government schools. At the same time I learned to speak Nepali and mixed with other peoples and became involved in the movement. (before beginning to teach I had already made contact with the movement.)
In my first month in Nepal I was taking a bowl of noodles in a hotel and the owner asked me my name. As soon as I told him, he knew I was a Dalit (an untouchable, as were my parents. When I had been in India, my parents had told me that I was a Dalit but I had no idea what that meant in real terms.) 
​He asked me to wash the bowl from which I had eaten.

I asked him why?
And he replied that “It is our custom in the village.”
I told him that I had paid for the food so I am not required to wash the bowl.
First he used verbal abuse then he jumped and tried to grab my hands but I moved and slapped the hotel owner.  I had no alternative. I realised that my behaviour was like a rebel’s.
The police were suddenly there and after asking me about the incident they tried to fine me 200 rupiah for disturbing the peace and tranquility.
I refuse because I had never heard of this practice. I said that I had done nothing wrong. I argued that I would never pay. “If you have any laws to keep me then keep me or else let me go.”
The police….. they used crude voices but they did not beat me…… they told me to not do this again.
After this I realise that there was a need for young people with an education to live  in the villages. This is one of the main reasons why I decided to stay and work in a village.
In order to eliminate such discrimination in the village, I had to first establish myself there.
We aim to have a government run by the people. The democratic government is one where the majority of the people can rule. This is not the case in Nepal which is why it is not a democracy. It is only with the help of the western/foreign imperialists that the government can stand on  its feet. They do not even have the money to maintain its supply of arms and ammunitions.
At present I am here. But we have a plan to fight for any poor and underprivileged country in the world. Recently I have been transferred from a hilly district. Transfer is carried out depending on the particular needs of the revolution and the skills of the individual.
It is a very well planned system.

In the Kailali district, over 50 % of our members are women. The village women are mentally stronger than the men. 40 to 50% of the combatants in this Kailali region are also women. (Kailali = Tikapur, Lamki, Dhangadhi, Attaria, Bhajaani).
In Dhangadhi, the district and regional HQ for security, we control all the government district offices, municipal operations and businesses. We even have people in the barracks.
We have control of 80% of the country now and are in a position to launch attacks on major towns. We also have main barracks surrounded and can launch commando raids in broad daylight. " 


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Beni town, Central Nepal. The scene of a large-scale Maoist attack in 2004. April 2007
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Female Maoist Guerrillas. Western Nepal 2004
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Maoist Cultural Team. Dailekh Village. May 2001
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Climbing up from the Karnali River with Maoist Guerrillas. May 2001
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Maoist guerrilla near Dailekh village, 2001
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A female Maoist guerrilla lies in the Pokhara hospital after having been shot through one of her fallopian tubes during a fire-fight with Royal Nepali Army soldiers. Pokhara, Nepal 2003
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Maoist leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, aka Prachanda, 'The Furious One'
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Maoist Cultural Team perform for villagers in Dailekh. (attendance compulsory). May 2001
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Maoist Guerrillas, Dailekh Village 2001
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Maoist Cultural Team performing for the villagers of Dailekh. 2001
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Maoist Guerrillas. Western Nepal 2004



​L i n k s    T o    R e l a t e d    P a g e s

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  • Home
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    • PB at Photo Kathmandu by Prawin Adhikari 2015 (ENG)
    • PB Nepal Work - by Frederic Lecloux 2015 (ENG / FR))
    • PB by Leica World Quarterly 2001 (Eng)
    • Extreme Asie - James Burnet 2000 (ENG)
    • PB's Asian Tsunami by Pascal Convert 2005 (FR)
    • Vous avez dit reel? Christian Caujolle 1998 (FR)
    • PB Mighty Real - C. Caujolle
  • Education
    • Sarajevo-After the Image
  • About
  • 2021
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    • venom stone
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