Arundhati Roy's Blog, page 2

Arundhati Roy shuns 'activist' tag

SHARJAH: Firmly denying she belonged to the activist-writers’ category, the author of The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy, on Saturday said it was wrong to label her an activist just because her writings take up the cause of marginalised sections of society.

Replying to a question, Roy, the first Indian to win a Booker prize for literature, said activism was a subject that needed elaborate discussion, stressing that her non-fictional writing was her way of expressing “myriad forms of resistance” to “wrong” policies.

The writer, known for her straight talk and anti-establishment views, had reservations about the application of the term “activist” in her case by whom she referred to as “market-driven” media, who by and large considered this breed as “boring” people who just repeated ad nauseam whatever they had to say.

There wasn’t a slightest hint of arrogance or harshness in her words or demeanour as was widely attributed to the writer, whose second fictional work the literary world was eagerly expecting, ever since her first book became an international bestseller.

‘What ails India’

In an exclusive interview given to The Gulf Today, she said the voice of Maoists in India, who are criticised for their anti-state stand, has been relatively silenced, because they have been constrained within the forests by the Indian army. But she warned about a growing civil unrest across the country, the presence of which is already being manifest in states like Uttar Pradesh.

She agreed with the point that it was not only in India that the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. But the development pattern evident in India underlines the injustice meted out to its poorer sections, primarily because of the grip the corporate world had on the government there, she stressed.

Though she was hopeful of what the ongoing civil society movement in India would achieve, according to her, the recent discussion over corruption allegations against a leading Indian opposition figure, tended to peter out into something more political than being part of the larger battle against corruption.

She was of the view that corruption is “polarisation of power and powerlessness” and should not be a “campaigning issue restricted to elections.”

Corruption, according to her, did not begin and end with politicians. As a sole remedy for this deep-rooted menace, she suggested “limiting the size of the corporate world.”

She pointed out that when the doors to a liberalised economy were opened, and authorities decided to then “focus too much on communal issues,” corporate establishments managed an invasion of the economic and the bureaucratic systems — including the fourth estate, which was supposed to highlight the issue.

This has indeed “helped the corporate sector” consolidate its power and resulted in producing a whole gamut of corrupt leaders.

Though she did lay the blame at the voters’ doorstep, for bringing the corrupt to the seat of power, she refused to go by the “silly excuse” that the people eventually get a government they deserve.

on ‘n’ and ‘K’

While dwelling on the ongoing anti-nuclear agitation in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, she asserted that the country should not be a dustbin for America or other powers. She attacked the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for being an “ever-eager servant of America.”

As a continuation of her firm stand on Kashmir expressed at a ‘Meet the Author’ programme on Friday, she said, “Nobody is looking for a solution to the Kashmir issue. Actually Kashmir is a solution for politics in India.”

On Friday’s interaction with readers and fans that was attended by several dignitaries, she touched upon a wide range of topics — from fiction to politics — in her trademark frank manner.

She drew spontaneous applause from the enthused women in the audience with her vocal support for their rights to choose a dress of their choice — be it the all-covering abaya or any other dress.

Lashing out at the caste system in India, she bemoaned its continued prevalence as in the ancient times, while lashing out at the Indian constitution for being a “compromised document,” on account of its ineffectiveness in the matter. 

It was interesting to see the writer, darling of the media, attacking the fourth estate in India, which she maintained was being orchestrated by capitalists.
While drawing attention to her “biased” stand on the media, she said it was not the question of misquoted or distorted views, but a deliberate attempt to malign her by a few people, and sometimes putting things completely out of context.
Source :
http://www.gulftoday.ae/portal/25184a...

State attacking tribals in name of Green Hunt: Roy

[image error] Social activist and writer Arundhati Roy speaks to civil liberties activist Lateef Mohammed Khan at a meeting against Operation Green Hunt at the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram in Hyderabad on Sunday.


Noted social activist and writer Arundhati Roy on Sunday stressed the need to intensify the revolutionary movements to fight oppression by the state against the people. Speaking at a meeting organised by “Virasam” (Revolutionary Writers' Association) at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram here, Ms Roy said that the successive governments have made lives of common people miserable during the last 20 years by adopting the policies of globalisation, economic liberalisation, free market etc. She added that the reforms being implemented since the last 20 years have only contributed to the declining living standards of common people.

 “The reforms being taken up by the governments under the guise of free market regime have resulted in 30 per cent growth of military forces while adivasis forest areas faced extinction. The policy-makers have conspired to evacuate adivasis from forests under the name of Operation Green Hunt. Ironically, the people’s organisations instead of revolting against these policies are maintaining silence,” Ms Roy said.

While appreciating the recent ‘Bharat Bandh’ against FDI in retail sector, she questioned why parties and people were not agitating against incidents such as Gujarat riots. Referring to the ban on Revolutionary Democratic Front imposed by the state government, she said the people’s organisations have failed to express their anguish over the decision. Ms Roy alleged that the governments have mobilised lakhs of security personnel as part of Operation Green Hunt under the pretext of combating Maoists but they were instead resorting to attacks on innocent tribals. She alleged that the governments were branding Muslims as ‘terrorists’.

Source:
 

Revoke ban on RDF: Arundhati Roy

Writer and social activist Arundhati Roy on Sunday demanded an immediate revoke of the ban imposed on Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) in the state.

Addressing the gathering at a meeting organised by the Viplava Rachaitala Sangham (Revolutionary Writers’ Association) against the ban, Roy termed the ban unconstitutional and urged the members to keep on with their struggle against state-sponsored violence. “RDF is not a armed organisation. It’s activities are in consonance with the Indian constitution. Then why is it banned?,” she questioned.

However, she said that the ban had indirectly helped the RDF in growing strong. “The ban has indirectly benefited the RDF. It has allowed it to grow stronger and the bond among it’s members and with the people grow deeper,” she said. She lauded RDF’s members for fighting for the human rights of the dalits and the adivasis in rural India.

 “The ban has forced mass migration of RDF’s members from Hyderabad to either Delhi or to the rural parts of the state but still the organisation has grown stronger in the state capital, she said indicating to it’s swell of ranks during the first national conference of the RDF in Hyderabad on April this year.

 However, she seemed a bit disappointed on finding no expression of emotion or anger on the faces of RDF’s members against the ban. “We have stopped thinking and fighting against inequality and discrimination in the society. That is why we are not getting angry,” she explained.

The RDF has limited itself to organising meetings in protest against violation of constitutional rights. It is unfortunate that governments are still using outdated oppressive colonial laws to suppress the democratic rights of the people, said president of the state unit of RPI and senior High Court advocate Bojja Tarakam. Virasam state secretary Varalakshmi, HRF president S Jeevan Kumar spoke on the occasion. The seven-year-old RDF is a democratic organisation active across India in fighting for the rights of the downtrodden.


Source :
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/revoke-ban-on-rdf-arundhati-roy/294614-60-121.html

Accepting inequality part of Indian culture: Roy

Noted writer Arundhati Roy with revolutionary writer Varavara Rao at the meeting of the Revolutionary Writers Association in Hyderabad on Sunday 23rd September, 2012. Photo: G. Ramakrishna



It is a shame that people cannot talk about the economic order and do not know the frontiers of their battle’

Noted writer Arundhati Roy has regretted that it had become part of the Indian culture to accept inequality in society.

Indians had a fond hope that they will live in an equal society when the Naxalbari movement was launched against the zamindari system in the 1970s. The slogan then was ‘land to the tiller’, but now their demand has transformed to retention of whatever land is left with them, she said, addressing a meeting of the Revolutionary Writers Association against the ban on Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF).

Ms. Roy criticised Indian society as the most “rotten” in the world with its people failing to fight against injustice. “It is a shame that they cannot talk about the economic order which threatened society.” People did not know the frontiers of their battle. As a result, the governments doctored their minds and they were left lurching between Islamic terrorism on one hand and Maoism on the other. The governments had adopted the British policy of deploying their forces to deal with terrorist activities from far and wide, she said.

 She called for new alliances between people to fight the assault from the governments. However, the anger of people had come down by 30 per cent, while there was an equal rise in the strength of security forces since economic reforms were initiated in the country in 1991.

Political parties resorted to hypocrisy by stalling Parliament and organising ‘Bharat bandh’ over foreign direct investment in retail trade. The parties did not think about FDI when it was allowed in mining and infrastructure projects, Ms. Roy added. She warned that the army would be deployed in Chhattisgarh to deal with Maoist activity. Earlier, AP Civil Liberties Committee vice president Suresh said that the government had banned RDF, although it did not have an organisational network in the State. Revolutionary writer Varavara Rao
attended the meeting.

Source:
       http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/accepting-inequality-part-of-indian-culture-roy/article3931253.ece

Special Cell exists to torment minorities: Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy at a packed auditorium of Jamia Millia Islamia University. Addressing more than 600 students and Batla House residents on Tuesday, Roy said the Cell existed merely to "create fear'' in the minds of minorities .

 "We should be looking at the forms and lines of state brutality. I do not think petitioning will help anymore. It is time to think politically ,'' Roy said, adding, the debate was beyond religious lines as the Indian state had been trying to 'militarize' ever since it aligned with the "pro-market countries like US and Israel'' .

 Roy was speaking at a book release organized by the group, Jamia Teachers' Solidarity, which was formed after the Batla encounter with the objective of demanding a judicial probe into what it calls "killings'' . The JTS released a book titled Framed, Damned, Acquitted: Dossiers of a Very Special Cell that examines 15 cases of Muslim men charged as terrorists and then acquitted by courts. Each of these men spent seven to 14 years in jail.

 Standing up for the men, noted jurist Rajender Sachar said the government had forgotten its "contract' ' to protect its people. Recalling his experiences as a member of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) when Maoist sympathizer Seema Azad's case hit the headlines, he called for repeal of the sedition law. He questioned the government's intentions and asked why Special Cell officers who "framed'' youths did not face action. He said PUCL will help all 15 men discussed in the book receive some amount of compensation

. Later, the JSA said it was demanding several measures from the government on the eve of the Batla encounter . "We want a national commission of enquiry set up immediately to document and investigate all such police excesses across the country. Two, we want a comprehensive rehabilitation package, including assistance in education and occupation ," said a representative . The group also demanded that the government and the police tender a public apology for their actions , the Special Cell be disbanded , and officers involved in the frame up be punished.

 Two of the exonerated men, who spent 14 years in prison, spoke about their pain and loss. Md Aamir Khan was tried in several cases across Delhi, Haryana and UP while Maqbool Shah was charged for being involved in a car blast case at Lajpat Nagar. "When I remember those days, I can only cry out. During the process , I lost my father and elder sister. My business went bust and at times I felt like committing suicide. Yet no fast track court helped me, nor any lawyer initially agreed to take up my case,'' he said.

 Aamir, about whom TOI wrote earlier, claimed he was still "fighting for dignity. I am getting married next month. But, what will I feed my wife and children? Will anyone arrange a job for me?'' he said.


Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Special-Cell-exists-to-torment-minorities-Roy/articleshow/16458968.

‘If govt can’t handle garbage, how will it handle nuclear waste?’

“I stand in complete solidarity with the villagers of Idinthakarai who are resisting the fuel loading of theKoodankulam nuclear reactor. I happened to be in Japan in March 2011 when the earthquake damaged the Fukushima reactor. After the disaster, almost every country that uses nuclear energy declared that it would change its policy. Every country, except India.Our Government has shown itself incapable of even being able to dispose day to day garbage, leave alone industrial effluent or urban sewage. How does it dare to say that it knows how to deal with nuclear waste? And that nuclear reactors in India are safe?We know how the Government has colluded with Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) to ensure that the victims of the Bhopal Gas Leak will never get justice. But no amount of compensation can ever
right a nuclear disaster. I do believe that what is being done in Koodankulam in the name of Development is a crime.”
Source:http://www.firstpost.com/india/kudankulam-live-if-govt-cant-handle-garbage-how-will-it-handle-nuclear-waste-452361.html

God of Small Things has a Tamil avtar

CHENNAI: Fifteen years after it was published in English, Arundhati Roy's Booker prize-winning novel 'God of Small Things' appears in a Tamil translation for the first time as 'Chinna Visaiyangalin Kadavul'. In a function at Chennai on Sunday, the translation by G Kuppuswamy was released by Roy. Tamil is the 39 language in which the book has been published.Kuppuswamy, an inspector with the local fund audit department of the Tamil Nadu government, said he read the book 30 times as he set out to translate the work. Though he completed his translation book in 2005, it was only in January this year that Kalachuvadu, the publisher, got Roy's permission to release the book.

Source :
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-29/coimbatore/32923293_1_translation-god-chennai

Terrorism Isn’t The Disease; Egregious Injustice Is’ - Arundhati Roy

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On laws like AFSPA, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, sedition, democracy, terrorism and more 
Panini Anand Interviews Arundhati Roy No one individual critic has taken on the Indian State like Arundhati Royhas. In a fight that began with Pokhran, moved to Narmada, and over the years extended to other insurgencies, people’s struggles and the Maoist underground, she has used her pensmanship to challenge India’s government, its elite, corporate giants, and most recently, the entire structure of global finance and capitalism. She was jailed for a day in 2002 for contempt of court, and slapped with sedition charges in November 2010 for an alleged anti-India speech she delivered, along with others, at a seminar in New Delhi on Kashmir, titled ‘Azadi—the only way’. Excerpts from an interview to Panini Anand:

How do you look at laws like sedition and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or those like AFSPA, in what is touted as the largest democracy?
I’m glad you used the word touted. It’s a good word to use in connection with India’s democracy. It certainly is a democracy for the middle class. In places like Kashmir or Manipur or Chhattisgarh, democracy is not available. Not even in the black market. Laws like the UAPA, which is just the UPA government’s version of POTA, and the AFSPA are ridiculously authoritarian—they allow the State to detain and even kill people with complete impunity. They simply ought to have no place in a democracy. But as long as they don’t affect the mainstream middle class, as long as they are used against people in Manipur, Nagaland or Kashmir, or against the poor or against Muslim ‘terrorists’ in the ‘mainland’, nobody seems to mind very much.
Some people are waging war against the State. The State is waging a war against a majority of its citizens. The Emergency in the ’70s became a problem because Indira Gandhi’s government was foolish enough to target the middle class, foolish enough to lump them with the lower classes and the disenfranchised. Vast parts of the country today are in a much more severe Emergency-like situation. But this contemporary Emergency has gone into the workshop for denting-painting. It’s come out smarter, more streamlined. I’ve said this before: look at the wars the Indian government has waged since India became a sovereign nation; look at the instances when the army has been called out against its ‘own’ people—Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Kashmir, Telangana, Goa, Bengal, Punjab and (soon to come) Chhattisgarh—it is a State that is constantly at war. And always against minorities—tribal people, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, never against the middle class, upper-caste Hindus.]
How does one curb the cycle of violence if the State takes no action against ultra-left ‘terrorist groups’? Wouldn’t it jeopardise internal security?
I don’t think anybody is advocating that no action should be taken against terrorist groups, not even the ‘terrorists’ themselves. They are not asking for anti-terror laws to be done away with. They are doing what they do, knowing full well what the consequences will be, legally or otherwise. They are expressing fury and fighting for a change in a system that manufactures injustice and inequality. They don’t see themselves as ‘terrorists’. When you say ‘terrorists’ if you are referring to the CPI (Maoist), though I do not subscribe to Maoist ideology, I certainly do not see them as terrorists. Yes they are militant, they are outlaws. But then anybody who resists the corporate-state juggernaut is now labelled a Maoist—whether or not they belong to or even agree with the Maoist ideology. People like Seema Azad are being sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing banned literature. So what is the definition of ‘terrorist’ now, in 2012? It is actually the economic policies that are causing this massive inequality, this hunger, this displacement that is jeopardising internal security—not the people who are protesting against them. Do we want to address the symptoms or the disease? The disease is not terrorism. It’s egregious injustice. Sure, even if we were a reasonably just society, Maoists would still exist. So would other extremist groups who believe in armed resistance or in terrorist attacks. But they would not have the support they have today. As a country, we should be ashamed of ourselves for tolerating this squalor, this misery and the overt as well as covert ethnic and religious bigotry we see all around us. (Narendra Modi for Prime Minister!! Who in their right mind can even imagine that?) We have stopped even pretending that we have a sense of justice. All we’re doing is genuflecting to major corporations and to that sinking ocean-liner known as the United States of America.
Is the State acting like the Orwellian Big Brother, with its tapping of phones, attacks on social networks?
The government has become so brazen about admitting that it is spying on all of us all the time. If it does not see any protest on the horizon, why shouldn’t it? Controlling people is in the nature of all ruling establishments, is it not? While the whole country becomes more and more religious and obscurantist, visiting shrines and temples and masjids and churches in their millions, praying to one god or another to be delivered from their unhappy lives, we are entering the age of robots, where computer-programmed machines will decide everything, will control us entirely—they’ll decide what is ethical and what is not, what collateral damage is acceptable and what is not. Forget religious texts. Computers will decide what’s right and wrong. There are surveillance devices the size of a sandfly that can record our every move. Not in India yet, but coming soon, I’m sure. The UID is another elaborate form of control and surveillance, but people are falling over themselves to get one. The challenge is how to function, how to continue to resist despite this level of mind-games and surveillance.




Of course, they are not non-issues. This is a huge issue. Thousands of people are in jail, charged with sedition or under the UAPA, broadly they are either accused of being Maoists or Muslim ‘terrorists’. Shockingly, there are no official figures. All we have to go on is a sense you get from visiting places, from individual rights activists collating information in their separate areas. Torture has become completely acceptable to the government and police establishment. The nhrc came up with a report that mentioned 3,000 custodial deaths last year alone. You ask why there is no mass reaction? Well, because everybody who reacts is jailed! Or threatened or terrorised. Also, between the coopting and divisiveness of ngos and the reality of State repression and surveillance, I don’t know whether mass movements have a future. Yes, we keep looking to the Arab ‘spring’, but look a little harder and you see how even there, people are being manipulated and ‘played’. I think subversion will take precedence over mass resistance in the years to come. And unfortunately, terrorism is an extreme form of subversion.
Without the State invoking laws, an active police, intelligence, even armed forces, won’t we have anarchy?
We will end up in a state of—not anarchy, but war—if we do not address the causes of people’s rising fury. When you make laws that serve the rich, that helps them hold onto their wealth, to amass more and more, then dissent and unlawful activity becomes honourable, does it not? Eventually I’m not at all sure that you can continue to impoverish millions of people, steal their land, their livelihoods, push them into cities, then demolish the slums they live in and push them out again and expect that you can simply stub out their anger with the help of the army and the police and prison terms. But perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe you can. Starve them, jail them, kill them. And call it Globalisation with a Human Face.



Source :
 http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281389#.T-V3CwzWCFo.twitter

Release political prisoners unconditionally

Hyderabad: 'Human rights activists should work together in cooperation, not in competition like different sects', said well-known writer and human rights activist Arundhati Roy. She was speaking at a meeting organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) A.P. chapter on the occasion of the 80 death anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

Two locks opened in 1991 to divide depressed classes

She said, in 1991 two locks were opened in this country, one was the lock of Babri Masjid, and other was of the Indian markets. "The demolition of the Babri Masjid and the opening up of Indian markets were a deliberate attempt to weaken opposition to India becoming an ally of the US," she said.


Arundhati Roy addressing the CRPP meeting in Hyderbad on 23rd March 2012
According to Mrs. Roy those two factors were used by different governments to divide the depressed classes and to isolate them. "Babri Masjid demolition was used to terrorize and demonize Indian Muslim community, whereas 1991 reforms were used against Tribals and to help corporate houses to exploit depressed classes," she added.

She further said that the US relationship has never benefited any country in the world. She gave the example of turmoil, and civil war kind of situation in Pakistan which according to her is the result of US strategic partnership.

She warned India of same fate if it gets closer to US. "Indo-US relations were a 'theatrical drama' enacted to induce India to support the US with a view to isolate Iran on one hand and to help build a cold war situation in China. India had acceded to the US at every stage right from buying nuclear reactors to opening up foreign direct investment. The big investments right now were in the education sector wherein US universities wanted to set up franchises in India. That is why all universities in India were shifting to the semester system of examinations like in the US. It was also not a coincidence that spiritual leader Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar insisted that education should be privatized."

Ending her speech she urged the audience to give up the narrow thinking of political prisoners, and widen its meaning which includes every person who is in jail in any false case, even if the case is so petty like pick pocketing.


On this occasion rich tributes were paid to Shaheed Bhahgat Singh and his comrades for sacrificing their life for a better nation. The committee demanded the government to recognize the rights of the political prisoners and release them unconditionally.

By Mohd. Ismail Khan

Source:
http://twocircles.net/2012mar24/release_political_prisoners_unconditionally_crpp.html

U.S. trying to use India to isolate Iran: Arundhati Roy

Writer Arundhati Roy at a meeting organised by the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners in Hyderabad on Friday. Photo: Nagara Gopal 
U.S. further trying to build a cold war situation in China, says the well-known writerWell-known author Arundhati Roy said that the Indo-U.S. relations were a "theatrical drama" enacted to induce India to support the U.S. with a view to isolate Iran on one hand and help build a cold war situation in China. 
Addressing a meeting organised by the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners on the occasion of the 80 death anniversary of Bhagat Singh, Ms. Roy said the main concern of the U.S. was how to isolate and attack Iran for its nuclear programme. In the same way, China had become the target of the U.S. as a result of the escalation of the conflict on account of capitalism. 
She said the U.S. had made Pakistan its ally but created a civil war in that country only to weaken it. The U.S. was now interested in creating a similar situation in China with India as its ally. Accordingly, India had acceded to the U.S. at every stage right from buying nuclear reactors to opening up foreign direct investment. The big investments right now were in the education sector wherein U.S. universities wanted to set up franchises in India. That is why all universities in India were shifting to the semester system of examinations like in the U.S. It was also not a coincidence that spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar insisted that education should be privatised. 
Ms. Roy said India before 1989 was non-aligned but today it was a natural ally of U.S. and Israel. The demolition of the Babri Masjid and the opening up of Indian markets were a deliberate attempt to weaken opposition to India becoming an ally of the U.S. War and arms shopping were the two techniques of the U.S. to bail itself out of a tight economic situation.
Earlier, civil rights activist Latif Mohammed Khan took exception to the failure of NGOs to raise their voice when Muslim youths were arrested after the blast in Mecca Masjid but released when the role of Hindu fundamentalists in the blasts was established. 

Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article3207193.ece