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Elizabeth Dalziel

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12 images Created 20 Aug 2011

NEPAL MAOIST REBELS

A trip though the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal was like stepping into an imaginary rabbit hole that dragged us up and down narrow paths, a kind of Alice in Wonderland.
We trekked through the bumpy back roads of Nepal, outside government control. Hoping to find Maoist rebels who opposed the monarchy and had taken up arms.
When just about everyone else has given up on communism, this impoverished corner of the world finds it flourishing. The Maoists are building agricultural cooperatives and following programs once espoused by Mao Zedong.
A short flight from Nepalganj took us into the mountainous district of Rukum, where despite the odds, the Maoists have created a place of their own.
We passed the final military checkpoint started to walk. We were never alone. One or two people always attached themselves to us. They wanted to know where we were from, where we were going and what we wanted to see.
Rudra, our fixer, warned us that they were spies. Spies seemed to be all over the valley, figuring out who was a government spy, who was a Maoist and who was just an extremely curious villager, bored by daily routine, was nearly impossible.
After a three-day trek through the hills to meet the leaders of the movement. We met contacts who led us to new contacts. We were questioned by senior and junior Maoists. We became tiny against the tall mountains and long winding roads. This is a place set away from our globalized world, lacking in modern infrastructure. What you harvest is what you eat. The noise of cars and the refrigerators grinding are gone.
A Maoist guide arrived at the mud hut where we were staying, We hiked for five days, following young Maoist soldiers, ideologues and an assortment of nameless faces, meeting up at seemingly random points.
On the fifth day we made it to the town where we finally would see Maoist troops coming down the mountains. At 3 p.m., the 2nd battalion of the people's army came down from the lush mountains, 300 of them, fully armed and in uniform, dancing their way through the crowds and waving rifles in the air.
Villagers draped their necks with flower garlands as they put their right fist up in the official Maoist salute. The villagers, who were polite but tense, danced with the militiamen
Here communists wore capitalist symbols, Nike swoosh T-shirts, Titanic movie bandanas. Contradictions ran deeper: The festive atmosphere commemorated a battle in which many rebels were slain. Teenagers smiled, holding their guns, their faces scarred by war. "This is not the Everest trek, this is the Maoist heartland", a local man taunted us.They welcomed us. But warned: "The unassuming traveler can be caught between the crossfire of the government and Maoist armies."
I wasn't caught in crossfire and I was never truly afraid. Like Alice, waking from her long and loopy dream, I wonder how much the characters and danger were real or imagined. Either way, it was a magical journey into a land of beauty that few people will ever see.
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  • Soldiers from  2nd Battalion of Maoist army dance holding their weapons in the air as they prepare to leave for the mountains after a cultural program and remembrance ceremony in the village of Kholagaun, in the Maoist heartland of Nepal Thursday April 22, 2004.  In the mountains of Nepal, one of the world's last full-blown Maoist revolutions is thriving/forging ahead/gaining ground. The doctrines of Mao, the Chinese communist leader who believed in communism via an empowered peasantry, have found new life in the farm fields of this Himalayan kingdom. The rebels contend their revolution _ which has cost more than 9,500 lives _ is only possible through the barrel of a gun.
    NEPAL MAOIST 001.jpg
  • Kaila Sah, a mother of 9, comforts her young child Sunil Kumar as he cries in pain from injuries suffered during an explosion set off in a market by Maoist rebels, at the Disaster ward in the Hospital of the southern Nepali town of Nepalganj Tuesday April 13, 2004. Although more than 600 people have been injured in battles with the police and the street protestors, the five major political parties continue their demonstrations, demanding that King Gyanendra dismiss the government appointed by him, and allow new elections or form a government led by the major parties in the last Parliament.
    NEPAL MAOISTS 02
  • A soldier from the  2nd Battalion extends a salute with the Maoist greeting, a clenched right fist, to villagers gathered to welcome them after they descended from the mountains to take part in a cultural program and remembrance ceremony in the village of Kholagaun, in the Maoist heartland of Nepal Thursday April 22, 2004.  In the mountains of Nepal, one of the world's last full-blown Maoist revolutions is thriving/forging ahead/gaining ground. The doctrines of Mao, the Chinese communist leader who believed in communism via an empowered peasantry, have found new life in the farm fields of this Himalayan kingdom. The rebels contend their revolution _ which has cost more than 9,500 lives _ is only possible through the barrel of a gun.
    NEPAL MAOIST 03
  • Defaced picture images of Nepal's King Gyanendra and Queen Komal adorn a wall bearing advertisements for Noodles near the town of Sita Parthy, in southern Nepal Friday April 23, 2004. The nation of 26 million seems to offer laboratory conditions for a revolution: an undemocratic government under a feud-riven royal family; poverty exaerbated by a perceptiuon of government is remote and corrupt; a feudal system where a handful of rich landlords exploit millions of poor. In the mountains of Nepal, one of the world's last full-blown Maoist revolutions is thriving/forging ahead/gaining ground. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)
    NEPAL MAOIST 04
  • A Nepali farmers rest under a tree as they treck their way along the narrow paths that lie between villages instead of roads in the Maoist controlled district of Rukum . Among the conditions that Nepal offers for a revolution, not only is there no democratically elected government, but farmers still have few roads or schools and live under a feudal systemwhere a handful of rich landlords exploit millions of poor. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)
    NEPAL MAOIST 05
  • Troops from the 2nd Battalion dance alongside villagers after descending from the mountains in to the valley to take part in a cultural program and remembrance ceremony in the village of Kholagaun, in the Maoist heartland of Nepal Thursday April 22, 2004.  In the mountains of Nepal, one of the world's last full-blown Maoist revolutions is thriving/forging ahead/gaining ground. The doctrines of Mao, the Chinese communist leader who believed in communism via an empowered peasantry, have found new life in the farm fields of this Himalayan kingdom. The rebels contend their revolution _ which has cost more than 9,500 lives _ is only possible through the barrel of a gun.
    NEPAL MAOIST 06
  • A young farmer trecks home in the Maoist controlled district of Rukum Friday April 23, 2004. Farmers in the lush rebel heartland of this poor Himalayan kingdom say they joined Maoists in their revolution to topple the monarchy as they yearn for their children to have more. That revolution began in the hills of Rukum and the three surrounding districts, which are among the country's poorest. There are no roads, few schools and people subsist on farming.
    NEPAL MAOIST 07
  • A statue of the late King Birendra of Nepal, who was murdered in alongside 10 other members of the royal family in 2001, stands in the a roadside town in the district of Dang, Saturday, April 24, 2004. Although more than 600 people have been injured in battles with the police and the street protestors, the five major political parties continue their demonstrations, demanding that King Gyanendra dismiss the government appointed by him, and allow new elections or form a government led by the major parties in the last Parliament.
    NEPAL MAOIST 08
  • A young soldier from the second battalion already marked by injuries of war listens to speakers during a cultural program and remembrance ceremony in the village of Kholagaun, in the Maoist heartland of Nepal Thursday April 22, 2004.  In the mountains of Nepal, one of the world's last full-blown Maoist revolutions is thriving/forging ahead/gaining ground. The doctrines of Mao, the Chinese communist leader who believed in communism via an empowered peasantry, have found new life in the farm fields of this Himalayan kingdom. The rebels contend their revolution _ which has cost more than 9,500 lives _ is only possible through the barrel of a gun.
    NEPAL MAOIST 09
  • Armed Troops from the 2nd Battalion dance alongside villagers after descending from the mountains in to the valley to take part in a cultural program and remembrance ceremony in the village of Kholagaun, in the Maoist heartland of Nepal, Thursday, April 22, 2004. Although more than 600 people have been injured in battles with the police and the street protestors, the five major political parties continue their demonstrations, demanding that King Gyanendra dismiss the government appointed by him, and allow new elections or form a government led by the major parties in the last Parliament.
    NEPAL MAOIST 10
  • A villager shows a picture of the late King Birendra of Nepal, who was murdered in alongside 10 other members of the royal family in 2001, is seen in  a heart shaped window in the wallet of a villager in the district of Rukum, viewed as the Maoist heartland Friday April 23, 2004. The Maoists, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been battling since February 1996 to replace the monarchy with a communist state. The current Nepali King Gyanendra, faces besides tackling the insurgency, daily protests in the capital for dumping a democratically elected government in 2002.
    NEPAL MAOIST 11
  • Villagers and Maoist soldiers dressed in civilian clothing play carrom ball after some troops belonging to the 2nd batallion made descended from the mountains  in the village of Kholagaun, in the Maoist heartland of Nepal Wednesday April 21, 2004.  In the mountains of Nepal, one of the world's last full-blown Maoist revolutions is thriving/forging ahead/gaining ground. The doctrines of Mao, the Chinese communist leader who believed in communism via an empowered peasantry, have found new life in the farm fields of this Himalayan kingdom. The rebels contend their revolution _ which has cost more than 9,500 lives _ is only possible through the barrel of a gun.
    NEPAL MAOIST 12