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Whatever the slogans on the streets about 'civilian supremacy' it is now clear that the current phase of Maoist street protests are aimed at saving the party from itself.

The torch rallies, the dancing in front of municipality buildings and the 'capture' of Dhankuta are all showcase activities to say, "We're here". But much more sinister is the escalation of violent attacks against opposition figures, attacks that remind us of the conflict years. The only difference is that guns are not being used.

But it is the time-tested Maoist method of enforcing obedience by terror tactics. A Maoist leader this week reminded everyone that the party still had guns stashed away and could use them anytime.

The kind explanation for all this is that the Maoists are just buying time for a face-saving way out of the corner they have boxed themselves into. The unkind explanation is that they are intent on state capture by escalating the protests into an urban uprising, removing all those in opposition and instituting totalitarian rule, as Baburam Bhattarai candidly explained to the World Peoples Resistance Movement last week (see related article). None of the Maoist actions so far convince us that the second option is not their real end game.

By rejecting a post-Tihar semantic compromise on a parliamentary resolution that offered everyone an honourable escape clause, the Maoists proved that this is all about getting back to power by hook or by crook. Indeed, to see it from their side, the Maoist leadership is afraid of greater attrition from the rank and file and perhaps even a split in the party if it doesn't get into government soon.

The question is how. The UML-NC coalition is unlikely to agree to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal stepping down, and the Maoists will not settle for anything less than prime ministership. The street protests were necessary because the Maoists realised they don't have the numbers in the house to oust the government, and their strategy of splitting parties to garner those numbers failed.

The desperation has led the Maoists to play an even more dangerous game by declaring autonomous ethnic federal councils this week. When nothing else works, the Maoists have always fallen back on stoking ethnic and caste tensions: not to liberate the downtrodden, but as a political weapon. A Maoist leader's explanation this week that the ethnic units are just 'symbolic' just doesn't wash.

The comrades must know that mixing ethnicity with politics can only lead to the fragmentation of the country. If so, does it mean they don't care if that happens?

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Contradiction in terms - FROM ISSUE #475 (06 NOV 2009 - 12 NOV 2009)