Ultranationalist Group

For my project I chose to research, THE SHINING PATH.

caption: Shining Path rebel

Background & Key Events

Basically, this group is the Communist Party of Peru, where its more common name is, "The Shining Path"; and is a Maoist organization located in Peru;where as well, the People's Guerrilla Army (Ejército Guerrillero Popular) is the official name of the armed branch of the party. In their hope to bring Peru to pure communism, they believed that by imposing a dictatorship of the proletariat, inducing cultural revolution and leading up to  world revolution. During their first launch of the internal conflict of Peru in 1980, it stated their goal was to replace what it saw as  bourgeois democracy with, " New Democracy" or a Maoist concept based on Mao Zedong's "Bloc of four social classes".Though regardless of their vision, "The Shining Path" is classified as a terrorist organization to not only the Peruvian government but as well as, the U.S department of state's list of foreign terrorist organizations, included also on Canada's and the European Union lists. At first, when I found out what I really wanted to research,my first thought of the Shining Path was something like the yellow brick road out of,"The Wizard of Oz"  with people who wanted to just change their pathways of life,and so on. Anyway, back to the basis; when a group is on any of those lists, it prohibits providing funding or other financial support-so they're fundraising! I was just kidding on the fundraising part, though. But, before being actually known as the shining path in 1980, the group was founded in the late 1960's by , Abimael Guzman, a former university philosophy professor, or referred to his followers by,Presidente Gonzalo, whose teachings were inspired by Mao's cultural revolution in China or type of militant Maoist movement before.

Current Status

 Abimael Guzman(Presidente Gonzalo) along with six other rebel leaders were swiftly tried behind closed
doors, and sentenced to life imprisonment following  two months after the incident  of the worst atrocities, which included the killing of 69 villagers in 1983, and a van bombing that killed about 20 people in Lima in July 1992.                      

                                    Caption: Abimael Guzman(Presidente Gonzalo)
 When  Guzman left the scene, the Shining Path saw it's memberships dwindle and by 1994, about 6000 guerrillas had surrendered under a government amnesty program.Here are some key points to what happened afterwards with the Shining Path.
>Mid 1990s- guerrilla leader Oscar Ramirez Durand attempted to spearhead a resurgence of the movement.
>1999-Mr.Ramirez was in turn captured now among Guzman and other Shining Path leaders
>2002- The Car bomb in Lima, just before former U.S president, George W. Bush's visit ; killing 9 and injuring 30 people. This attack was blamed on The Shining Path
Although the organization's numbers had lessened by 2003, a militant faction of the Shining Path called Proseguir (or "Onward") continued to be active and the government claims the Proseguir is operating in alliance with drug traffickers . The faction is believed to consist of three companies known as the Pangoa(the north), Pucuta(the centre) and Vizcatan(the southThis would basically be called the resurgence of The Shining Path which have new commanders by the names of,Comrade Artemio and Comrade Jose'.

People

The followers were first found or indoctrinated in the university where Presidente Gonzalo , was the philosophy professor; it could be defined as the foundation or  first foothold, the party had obtained,where many students adopted the Shining Path's radical ideology. Soon after,between 1973 and 1975, Shining Path followers  in the Universities of Huancayo and La Cantuta developed a significant presence the oldest university in the Americas, the National University of San Marcos. A while after, the left members lost many student elections in the universities that The Shining Path decided to abandon recruiting at the universities and re- unite and come up with other strategies on recruitment .Beginning on March 17, 1980, the Shining Path held a series of private  meetings in Ayacucho, known as the Central Committee's second plenary.Which formed a "Revolutionary Directorate" that was political and military in nature, and ordered its militias to transfer to strategic areas in the provinces to start the "armed struggle". The group also held its "First Military School" where members were instructed in military tactics and weapons use. They also engaged in the "Criticism and Self-Criticism"- a Maoist practice intended to purge bad habits and avoid repeating mistakes. During the First Military School, members of the Central Committee came under heavy criticism. Guzmán did not, and he emerged from the First Military School as the clear leader of the Shining Path. The people of Peru ,according to opinion polls,regarding The Shining Path and their doings , in June 1991, "the total sample disapproved of the Shining Path by an 83 to 7 percent margin, with 10 percent not answering the question. Among the poorest, however, only 58% stated disapproval of the Shining Path; 11 percent said they had a favorable opinion of the Shining Path, and some 31 percent would not answer the question." A September 1991 poll found that 21 percent of those polled in Lima believed that the Shining Path did not kill and torture innocent people. The same poll found that 13% believed that society would be more just if the Shining Path won the war and 22% believed society would be equally just under the Shining Path as it was under the government.
YouTube Video click link:
A video of Shining Path rebels training (not brutal)    -open in another tab

Motto.

" Long live the People's War,
It is Right to Rebel"

Predictions

The latest incident involving the resurgence of, "The Shining Path,"  happened on April 28,2010 where their rebels in Peru ambushed and killed a police officer and two civilians who were destroying coca plantations of Aucayacu, in the central region of Hanuco,Peru. The victims were gunned down by sniper fire coming from the thick forest as more than 200 workers were destroying coca plants.As the group's known for their history of  violence and brutality; this event was not so much of a surprise. Knowing that their former head leaders are now imprisoned, and the group has lessened since 2003 but now with new commanders taking their place, I believe there is a possibility for The Shining Path to continue that legacy. Just look at their latest incident above; and probably as of right now, the group is recruiting rebels ,indoctrinating them to follow their ideology and training their guerrilla fighters;The Shining Path is one one example of  a dictator being out of the scene , yet their ideologies that they drilled into their first followers minds' have been passed down and had lived on. 

To what extent should ultranationalist groups be allowed to exist?

Ultranationalist groups exist around us, almost in every country! The word ultranationalist refers to a group that has excessive loyalty and love for either their country or ideas to the point where they cross the line and kill a person from targeted group of people. Most of the groups have had these ideas and plans to make it known to the targeted group(s) that they will be in power and will step on anyone who gets in their way. Though when someone does get in their way, especially with a dictator, that person isn’t in much luck and has their fate chosen. Which when the leader along with their council members chooses; a genocide or crimes against humanity usually occurs, devastating the country  and striking  news to the rest of the globe.  I believe that, positive opinions and ideas should be heard and not just taken away; so if ultranationalist were banned to exist, I don’t think their ideas or their drive would die out. Although that there’s a line drawn, the group would most likely cross it as simple as killing just one person. But said that, where at the point where a group is classified as an ultra-nationalist, they've crossed that line and therefore, should be punished as a whole for the crimes they've committed.