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The formation of the Socialist Front including Netra Bikram Chand Biplav led Communist Party of Nepala party that wants to overthrow the current parliamentary systemhas created a kind of ripple in Nepali politics. The fronts coming into being thus roused suspicions of both the major parties: the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. In this context, Posts Tika R Pradhan talked to Chand on a host of issues. Excerpts:

What are Netra Bikram Chand Biplav and his party doing right now?

Nowadays we are working to bring political stability. At a time when there is a struggle between good governance and chaos, we are working in the political sector to lead the country towards good governance, stability and prosperity.

You were recently seen in paddy fields with peasants. Why were you there? What is your strategy?

Nepalis want an independent, self-sufficient and prosperous country. For this we need the worlds support. But we can also deploy our own resources. For this, it is our responsibility to productively use our labour force and we believe that we can bring prosperity to our lives through production. To be a self-sustaining country, we need to develop an independent economy, production, parties, leaders and also self-sustained cadres. We believe that our party needs to put into practice what we believe. We have to develop confidence among the new generation in our own labour, production and our own prosperity.

How is that possible? Do you have any concrete plans?

Yes, it is possible. We have been experimenting for the past two years and so Im confident. Our leaders, at least those at the central level, have not been buying rice or any other edibles for the past two years. Now, this self-sufficiency has been extended to at least 100 of our leaders. This year, we are extending cultivation to 100 bigaha from 15 bigha last year. This way, we can generate at least one crore rupees. We can similarly employ the whole country.

Your party has joined the socialist front. What is the fronts objective?

The only objective is to end the state of unstable politics and to achieve transformation through stability, independence and prosperity.

How was this coming-together made possible?

We have come to a common conclusion that the existing parliamentary system has failed to fulfil peoples aspirations and necessities. The country plunged into a series of crises. Lately, Prachandas government has been trying to work on good governance, which is positive. The rest are only fighting for power and this is not going to end unless the parliamentary system ends. Everyone feels thisintellectuals, peasants, politicians, journalists. The front was formed after the four parties came to this common understanding. More parties have agreed on its theoretical basis and the front will be accordingly widened in the days ahead.

Your party has adopted the line of unified peoples revolution. What exactly does that mean?

This is a new model of revolution to make Nepal and its people rich and prosperous. In short, we have sufficient basis to make Nepal rich and independent. Yesterday, a few feudals captured power. Now comprador capitalism is in place, and the capital is not going to the people. Even the capital of the people has been captured by a few. Its a new model of revolution to change this, to ensure an independent and prosperous Nepal.

Our major issue is stability besides independence and prosperity. Everyone wants change and transformation. If the state wishes to suppress peoples need for change, the conflict could reignite. We are clear, you can doubt whether we are going back to violent movement, but no party, which truly represents people, is in favour of violence. But if the state tries to suppress people, that can incite violence.

But how do you think we can achieve prosperity?

What we want is a change in the existing parliamentary system. It can either be through amending the constitution or through a referendum. Every revolution in Nepal demands changemaking people the masters and making the country independent by annulling unequal past treaties and agreements.

The only alternative to the existing parliamentary system is socialism. All the partiesnot only the four in the fronthave embraced socialism in their political programs knowing that this parliamentary system wont work. We are only saying lets go there. There are different models of socialism: scientific socialism, democratic socialism of Congress, Upendra Yadav and Baburam Bhattarais federal socialism, while some believe in national socialism. Its been clear that the parliamentary system cannot give a solution. In clear words, our alternative is socialism in the place of the parliamentary system.

Thats what people want to know: what route are you taking towards socialism?

This system could not give a stable governmentwe never have had a five-year-long government. If we talk about ministersthey change in months not years. In unstable politics, nobody can ensure results. In the economic sector, the market has been open, the cash has been deployed, and the spread of capital has increased. The international market has also been open, but these all could not ensure a self-reliant economy. We failed to develop the national economy and industries, create jobs, modernise agriculture and to utilise natural resources.

Its all because of the unstable politics and comprador capitalist system. We have also failed to ensure the basic needs of the peoplethere are more than two million squatters who dont even have a place to stay. We dont have enough educational facilities, people cannot get affordable treatment, youths are not in the mood to stay in the country, women have been made objects to sell, and civil servants are corrupt. Socialism gives solutions to all these problemsit gives political stability, ensures a self-reliant economy and jobs, ends black markets, reviews and annuls unequal treaties and so on.

Newer parties are emerging. What could be the reason behind that?

It is the result of the failure of the older parties. People of the age group 18-30 are immature. The activities of the existing parties and leaders are not satisfactory. New parties are capitalising on the dissatisfaction over older parties but the question is what ideological basis do these new forces stand. They have been saying they can change the existing system. They have not understood our sacrifices for change in the existing system. We need to make them understand this and prove that our proposals are not unachievable. New forces are not stable ones. I believe the younger generation will understand once we interact with them.

How have you seen the growing popularity of Balen Shah and Harka Sampang?

We have taken it positively. People want change. Harka ji is into labour, which we respect. Balen has also done some good work which communist parties should have done. But that experiment should connect with an objective and ideology. If not, that cannot be sustainable and could even take a regressive course. But they have been working as per the peoples aspirations which leaders of older parties failed to do.

Has Prachanda abandoned the parliamentary system or have you joined the old system?

We should not make it complex, as it seems our union in the front has created ripples. When we four parties have come together to lead the country towards socialism, no one should divert attention away from this central message. We need to understand parliament and the government as the medium to serve the people, not for enjoyment.

You were against the MCC. Now you are with Prachanda, who got it endorsed by the parliament. How can you both stay together?

No, we still believe the MCC is dangerous for Nepal. But it does not mean that we dont want to work with international forces. We just want to safeguard our independence. We have to make people understand that we want to work in cooperation with the US. We can take the support of the US and also support them in whatever way we can. While returning home from his recent Nepal trip, Donald Lu said Nepalis have contributed to the US economy. But when it comes to our independence, no outside force should try to impinge on it.

What is your partys opinion on the MCC and the BRI?

We have not seen any conditions attached to the BRI but there are conditions in the MCC. Even if the US may not have such an intent, we have the understanding that through those conditions the US wants to impose itself in Nepal. Not only us, all the parties in the Parliament were against it. But about the BRI, Congress is also not negative. We are ready to accept such agreements without strings. Even on the MCC, we are in favour of cooperation if its wrong provisions are removed.

Why do you think China is trying to bring projects including Pokhara airport under BRI?

Its not related to Sino-Nepal relations but an effect of polarisation in world politics. With the aggressive entry of the MCC, maybe China is seeing things through that lens. Its true that Pokhara airport is not under the BRI but China is saying so. Nepalis should take it seriously. If not, there is a risk that Nepal can become another Ukraine. The US should also understand this, so should China.

What is your opinion on the Constitution?

Most people believe this constitution is incomplete.

Many leaders see you as the general secretary of the unified Maoist party. Is that a possibility?

For now, this issue is not important. We are for unifying Nepals communist movements, not only the Maoists. We are only focused on the socialist front.

There is a belief that the front was formed by focusing on the next polls. How do you see the fronts prospects in the next polls?

Actually, we want to bring socialism in the next four years. [Laughs.] Our focus now is on the issues related to peoples lives and livelihoodsespecially corruption, usury, cooperatives deceiving people, high interest rates, human trafficking, unemployment, and problems of peasants, among others.

We think by the next four years, there will be lots of changes in the country.

Will the UML join the front?

Of course. Discussions are essential to bringing all communist forces together. The new generation must have the courage to do this while respecting the older generation. The time to talk about broader left unity is right now.

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'Parties in Socialist Front know parliamentary system doesn't work' - The Kathmandu Post

A deadly heat wave is sweeping the country. Yesterday, extreme heat advisories were issued for areas where cumulatively about one-fourth of the population lives. And its not just the United States record temperatures are being felt around the globe.

Climate change is making extreme weather events like the heat wave more and more common and intense. If the capitalist system that prioritizes short-term profit above all else remains in place, the future for humanity looks bleak. But if the government and the economy were controlled by the people instead of the billionaires socialism then we could immediately get to work on solutions.

Here are three steps that a socialist government would take immediately to address the dangerous heat:

1. Guarantee adequate housing for all

There are far more empty housing units than homeless people in the United States who make up around half of the 1,500 people who die from extreme heat each year. A socialist government would seize these empty units from the investors who own them and redistribute them to provide shelter to those who lack it. Homes that do not have air conditioning would be outfitted with AC free of charge, with priority given to elders and people with medical conditions. While this is being carried out, a socialist government would set up 24/7 cooling stations in every neighborhood.

2. Ensure safety for those who work outdoors

Protecting workers health should always come before profits. On days when temperatures are simply too high to safely work outside, outdoor workers would be given the day off with no loss of income. Outside of extreme heat waves, a socialist government would work with unions to develop a comprehensive set of measures to dramatically improve safety. This would include cooling stations at workplaces, more legally-mandated breaks, and shorter working hours.

3. Transform cities to curb deadly heat

A socialist government would strive to make cities comfortable and safe places for people to live not just centers of profit-making for big business. To address the deadly heat island effect in urban areas, green space would be greatly expanded with new parks and efforts to plant trees and other native vegetation. All buildings could be retrofitted with cool roofs or green roofs that help control temperatures.

Read more:
Three things a socialist government would be doing RIGHT NOW to tackle the heat wave Liberation News - Liberation

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) warned attendees at a conservative conference in Florida on Sunday that President Joe Biden is a Democrat socialist who wants to complete the work started by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson by addressing issues such as education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation. Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and welfare.

Greene said Biden wants to complete the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete: socialism, Greenesaidin remarks at the right-wingTurning Point Action Conferencein West Palm Beach.

Roosevelt and Johnson created some of the most popular social safety net programs in the United States, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare and Medicaid, programs that provide health insurance to Americans over the age of 65 and low-income Americans, respectively, are also overwhelmingly popular. Johnsonsignedboth of the programs into law in1965.Fifty-seven percentof Americans have a favorable view of Medicare, while 51% have a favorable view of Medicaid.

Under Biden, the Democratic-controlled Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which allocated billions tofix roads and bridgesacross the country,expand access to high-speed internet, andmodernize public transportation. The Democratic-controlled Congress also passed theInflation Reduction Act, which included provisions to lower insurance premiums and prescription drug prices, andgavetax incentivesto Americans to transition to green energy or make energy-saving improvements to their homes.

A Data for Progresspollin February found both of Bidens landmark pieces of legislation are overwhelmingly popular. More than three-quarters of voters, 76%, support the infrastructure bill, while 68% support the Inflation Reduction Act.

Democrats said Greene was actually helping Biden with her comments.

Marjorie Taylor Greene thought her recent speech was an attack on @POTUS. Its actually a huge compliment, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)tweeted. She said @JoeBiden wants to finish what FDR started by supporting Medicare, rural poverty, and education. Thank you @RepMTG! More of this please.

The White House also drew attention to Greenes comments.

Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking families, the official White House Twitter accountpostedon Monday.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

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Greene says Biden is continuing to build 'socialism' started by ... - The American Independent

China has released new guidelines on generative AI services, limiting their public use while encouraging industrial development.

Reuters reported the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) softened its stance compared to draft rules in April. These new interim regulations will take effect on August 15th. The guidelines only affect organizations offering generative AI services to the public. Other entities developing the same technology but not for mass-market use do not fall under the measures.

The rules (translated via Google Translate) retain some wording from the April proposal. They continue to mandate generative AI services must adhere to core values of socialism and not attempt to overthrow state power or the socialist system.CNN reported the new rules removed potential fines of up to 100,000 yuan ($13,999) for violations.

China has been looking for ways to strengthen its generative AI offerings and hopes to become the leading provider, toppling the USs current dominance.

But this has not come easy for China, a country that famously controls internet access and the spread of information within its borders. The government had told its tech giants not to access ChatGPT for fear of the chatbot giving uncensored replies, even though the tool is not available in China. Authorities also cracked down on citizens using ChatGPT, arresting a man who allegedly used the chatbot to write fake articles.

Chinas generative AI rules also consider the importance of intellectual property rights of training data and prohibit the use of algorithms, data, platforms, and other advantages to implement monopoly and unfair competition. All training data must come from sources the government deems legitimate. Service providers must accept requests by individuals to review or correct information gathered for AI models.

The Chinese government said it would encourage the development of generative AI, including supporting infrastructure and public training.

More here:
China mandates that AI must follow core values of socialism - The Verge

For Dashie Prasad, a 25-year-old union organiser, activism literally started at home.

Prasad left Fiji with their extended family at the age of four, under an immigration program that offered their father mining work. They settled in Australia only to find that work was gone.

That job was taken off the table and given to a younger person. And so it was a bit of a shock moment for us.

Prasads parents navigated a labyrinthine visa system with various factory jobs, until their father was injured. Their mother, who was raising three children and caring for her disabled mother-in-law, requalified as a teacher. Prasads father now has a business as a driving instructor.

Prasad says their values were shaped by their familys struggle to start a new life in Sydneys western suburbs. And their later conflict, when Prasad came out as queer, reinforced that the personal is political. Through a bunch of that struggle, we were able to have very honest and very serious conversations about the political state of the world.

Prasad learnt the best way to build connection with community was through solidarity and understanding of personal struggles. One of the biggest issues is not being patronising, like meeting people where they are and then theyll meet you where youre at, they say.

The marriage equality plebiscite and #MeToo were the formative experiences of Prasads generation, which is harnessing gender rights, racial equality and sexuality as part of a reimagined socialism. Its rooted in an acute awareness that young people today are in a far more precarious economic position than generations before them. They see the evidence everywhere: unaffordable housing, student debt soaring with inflation, systemic poverty and discrimination against First Nations people, and the recurring floods, bushfires and mass extinctions of the climate crisis, while the Labor government contemplates as many as 116 proposals for fossil-fuel projects.

Young voters are responding by shifting further to the left. The popularity of Greens leader Adam Bandt among 18- to 34-year-olds recently surpassed that of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. And a study this year commissioned by the Institute of Public Affairs and Canadas Fraser Institute showed half of that demographic in Australia now supported socialism as the ideal economic system.

The fact that everything produced in society is in the hands of a tiny minority that makes decisions about everything whats produced, how its produced, whether its sustainable or not, how much to charge for it that has never been more apparent than now, in a cost-of-living crisis where wages are going backwards while corporate profits have massively increased, says Cherish Kuehlmann, 23, education officer for the student representative council at UNSW Sydney and an activist with the Get a Room campaign.

Welfare, rent caps, expanding public housing, cancelling or freezing student debt these are things people really need, right now. You say theres no money for it, yet youre injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into weapons nobody asked for, says Kuehlmann, who describes herself as a revolutionary socialist and has been organising protests in Sydney in support of rent caps and higher taxes on corporations to fund public housing.

I have family members that sleep in tin shacks, on bloody mattresses on dirt floors, says 26-year old Ruby Wharton, who is a proud Gomeroi Kooma woman, and daughter and granddaughter of First Nations activists. But the term sits uneasily with her. Activism is a word that I feel really funny about, purely because its just such a personal experience, I guess. The things that I do in terms of community organising, its a matter of importance, of survival.

She says she is fighting for health and quality of life for all impoverished communities, and a share in the countrys wealth, with a portion of GDP allocated to reparations: Its not something that can be exclusively applied to First Nations people. Its something that can be accessible to everybody.

Dr Ariadne Vromen, a professor of public administration at the Australian National University, says todays young adults are sophisticated political thinkers, more educated than any previous generation of young people. More of them attend university, they consume more media and can spread their message further, driving philosophical shifts. Vromen says social platforms such as TikTok are a means of engaging and educating while creating support networks that can transcend online spaces.

Dashie Prasad found common cause with a socially conservative former schoolmate via their posts about Palestine. We had a really great chat, a really honest conversation about her struggles as a young Palestinian woman in Australia, having to worry about her family back home, and me as a queer person in Australia, worrying about my community here, and also queer people across the world, facing violence.

They eventually worked together on a car convoy to the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, as part of a localised community campaign pushing to close detention centres and free refugees.

In an economy increasingly driven by piecemeal gigs, these activists are drawn to the socialist foundations of workers rights. And not only because theyve watched progressive policies by previous Labor governments stagnate under their successors and be unwound by the Coalition they also see flaws in the neoliberal framework in which those policies were conceived.

Four decades after the Prices and Incomes Accord the signature achievement of the HawkeKeating government these activists are calling for a new grand bargain. The seven accords signed with unions between 1983 and 1991 helped pave the way for Medicare and compulsory superannuation, as well as improvements in education, training, childcare and social security the social wage. But they also curbed workplace-level industrial campaigning, says Xavier Dup, 26, the National Union of Students education officer and a student at La Trobe University. He says the accord era marked a historic defeat for the Australian working class. The ALP co-opted one of the most powerful union movements in the world ending free education, selling off public assets, generally undermining the welfare state creating the obscene inequality we see today.

The Howard governments industrial relations reforms many of which were perpetuated by the RuddGillard Labor governments made action even more difficult, and Melbourne University professor of Australian history Sean Scalmer says unions have struggled to respond to the changing economy and changing society, in the context of that highly difficult legal environment. A union cant enter a workplace without giving written notice to the employer, industrial action is illegal outside a defined bargaining period, and they cant pursue agreements spanning more than one enterprise, unlike the industry-wide deals that are routine in countries such as Germany, Scalmer says. Moreover, the Fair Work Commission can suspend an industrial action that might cause significant economic harm to employers or employees, endanger someones life or safety, or cause significant damage to a part of the Australian economy.

We need a union movement that pushes to advance workers interests and social justice, regardless of the impact on the Labor Party or corporate profits, Dup says.

Cherish Kuehlmann sees an opportunity to rebuild a fighting union movement, citing the New South Wales nurses strike in March last year in which thousands of nurses flouted a ban to demand pay rises and improved staffing ratios. The state government subsequently approved bonuses, raised a salary cap and committed to more recruitment.

But civil disobedience comes at a high price. Nurses in Western Australia took similar action in the past year the state branch of the Nursing Federation was threatened with deregistration by the WA Labor government and now faces a $350,000 fine. South Australia, NSW, Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland have all passed anti-protest legislation imposing severe penalties on even those engaging in peaceful action, including anywhere from three months to two years in prison and fines ranging from $6000 to $50,000.

Kuehlmann herself was the subject of a midnight arrest and detention by NSW Police Force in February for her involvement in a protest at the Reserve Bank of Australia. She was charged with a single count of unlawful entry to enclosed land during the protest at Martin Place. Her bail conditions initially prevented her from being within two kilometres of Sydney Town Hall but were thrown out by a magistrate who recognised her democratic right to attend future protests.

Far from discouraging her from participating in further action, Kuehlmann says the experience only made me more determined to keep up the fight.

It is important for progressives to engage with government in a sign of good faith, says Prasad, who has lobbied and petitioned extensively on issues related to the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as higher education reform, climate change and carceral justice, among others. But Prasad concedes their efforts are strategic, too to show their base that engagement has been attempted, without success. Movements arent won on lobbying or by meeting with government, they say. Governments make change because theyre pushed from the outside.

Weve always been of the position, fuck around and find out, Ruby Wharton says. She points out the law didnt stop the Black Lives Matter protests from going ahead during Covid, and while the anti-protest laws are frightening, she shares the philosophy of her father, Wayne Coco Wharton: we have an obligation to be subject to one another in solidarity.

We have to dare to stand on the shoulders of those who did the exact same thing in their day, in their movements We have to be brave and have a legacy. If your legacy is listening to the government and then wondering how you can advocate, youre already doing yourself a disservice, she says.

At the end of the day, youve got support and youve got community who will be there to back you up. Thats what our movements are about.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on July 15, 2023 as "Left field".

For almost a decade, The Saturday Paper has published Australias leading writers and thinkers. We have pursued stories that are ignored elsewhere, covering them with sensitivity and depth. We have done this on refugee policy, on government integrity, on robo-debt, on aged care, on climate change, on the pandemic.

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A new era of socialist activism - The Saturday Paper