Arundhati Roy's Blog, page 5
November 24, 2011
Happy Birthday!
Here is wishing Ms Roy a very warm and wonderful birthday from the team and all its members
November 22, 2011
PIL filed against Arundhati Roy for her Kashmir remarks
This just goes to show the idiot quotient is rising in India. Fucking stupid the way they are going about attacking free speech in this country!
November 18, 2011
We are all Occupiers
People the world over salute the Occupy movement for standing up to injustice and fighting for equality at the heart of empire
Arundhati Roy Thursday 17 November 2011 14.45 GMT
Tuesday morning, the police cleared Zuccotti Park, but today the people are back. The police should know that this protest is not a battle for territory. We're not fighting for the right to occupy a park here or there. We are fighting for justice. Justice, not just for the people of the United States, but for everybody.
What you have achieved since 17 September, when the Occupy movement began in the United States, is to introduce a new imagination, a new political language into the heart of empire. You have reintroduced the right to dream into a system that tried to turn everybody into zombies mesmerised into equating mindless consumerism with happiness and fulfilment.
As a writer, let me tell you, this is an immense achievement. I cannot thank you enough.
We were talking about justice. Today, as we speak, the army of the United States is waging a war of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. US drones are killing civilians in Pakistan and beyond. Tens of thousands of US troops and death squads are moving into Africa. If spending trillions of dollars of your money to administer occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan is not enough, a war against Iran is being talked up.
Ever since the Great Depression, the manufacture of weapons and the export of war have been key ways in which the United States has stimulated its economy. Just recently, under President Obama, the United States made a $60bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia. It hopes to sell thousands of bunker busters to the UAE. It has sold $5bn-worth of military aircraft to my country, India, which has more poor people than all the poorest countries of Africa put together. All these wars, from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Vietnam, Korea, Latin America, have claimed millions of lives – all of them fought to secure the "American way of life".
Today, we know that the "American way of life" – the model that the rest of the world is meant to aspire towards – has resulted in 400 people owning the wealth of half of the population of the United States. It has meant thousands of people being turned out of their homes and jobs while the US government bailed out banks and corporations – American International Group (AIG) alone was given $182bn.
The Indian government worships US economic policy. As a result of 20 years of the free market economy, today, 100 of India's richest people own assets worth one-fourth of the country's GDP while more than 80% of the people live on less than 50 cents a day; 250,000 farmers, driven into a spiral of death, have committed suicide. We call this progress, and now think of ourselves as a superpower. Like you, we are well-qualified: we have nuclear bombs and obscene inequality.
The good news is that people have had enough and are not going to take it any more. The Occupy movement has joined thousands of other resistance movements all over the world in which the poorest of people are standing up and stopping the richest corporations in their tracks. Few of us dreamed that we would see you, the people of the United States on our side, trying to do this in the heart of Empire. I don't know how to communicate the enormity of what this means.
They (the 1%) say that we don't have demands … they don't know, perhaps, that our anger alone would be enough to destroy them. But here are some things – a few "pre-revolutionary" thoughts I had – for us to think about together:
We want to put a lid on this system that manufactures inequality. We want to put a cap on the unfettered accumulation of wealth and property by individuals as well as corporations. As "cap-ists" and "lid-ites", we demand:
• An end to cross-ownership in businesses. For example, weapons manufacturers cannot own TV stations; mining corporations cannot run newspapers; business houses cannot fund universities; drug companies cannot control public health funds.
• Natural resources and essential infrastructure – water supply, electricity, health, and education – cannot be privatised.
• Everybody must have the right to shelter, education and healthcare.
• The children of the rich cannot inherit their parents' wealth.
This struggle has re-awakened our imagination. Somewhere along the way, capitalism reduced the idea of justice to mean just "human rights", and the idea of dreaming of equality became blasphemous. We are not fighting to tinker with reforming a system that needs to be replaced.
As a cap-ist and a lid-ite, I salute your struggle.
Salaam and Zindabad.
• This is the text of a speech given by the author at the People's University in Washington Square on 16 November 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/17/we-are-all-occupiers-arundhati-roy
Arundhati Roy Thursday 17 November 2011 14.45 GMT Tuesday morning, the police cleared Zuccotti Park, but today the people are back. The police should know that this protest is not a battle for territory. We're not fighting for the right to occupy a park here or there. We are fighting for justice. Justice, not just for the people of the United States, but for everybody.
What you have achieved since 17 September, when the Occupy movement began in the United States, is to introduce a new imagination, a new political language into the heart of empire. You have reintroduced the right to dream into a system that tried to turn everybody into zombies mesmerised into equating mindless consumerism with happiness and fulfilment.
As a writer, let me tell you, this is an immense achievement. I cannot thank you enough.
We were talking about justice. Today, as we speak, the army of the United States is waging a war of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. US drones are killing civilians in Pakistan and beyond. Tens of thousands of US troops and death squads are moving into Africa. If spending trillions of dollars of your money to administer occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan is not enough, a war against Iran is being talked up.
Ever since the Great Depression, the manufacture of weapons and the export of war have been key ways in which the United States has stimulated its economy. Just recently, under President Obama, the United States made a $60bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia. It hopes to sell thousands of bunker busters to the UAE. It has sold $5bn-worth of military aircraft to my country, India, which has more poor people than all the poorest countries of Africa put together. All these wars, from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Vietnam, Korea, Latin America, have claimed millions of lives – all of them fought to secure the "American way of life".
Today, we know that the "American way of life" – the model that the rest of the world is meant to aspire towards – has resulted in 400 people owning the wealth of half of the population of the United States. It has meant thousands of people being turned out of their homes and jobs while the US government bailed out banks and corporations – American International Group (AIG) alone was given $182bn.
The Indian government worships US economic policy. As a result of 20 years of the free market economy, today, 100 of India's richest people own assets worth one-fourth of the country's GDP while more than 80% of the people live on less than 50 cents a day; 250,000 farmers, driven into a spiral of death, have committed suicide. We call this progress, and now think of ourselves as a superpower. Like you, we are well-qualified: we have nuclear bombs and obscene inequality.
The good news is that people have had enough and are not going to take it any more. The Occupy movement has joined thousands of other resistance movements all over the world in which the poorest of people are standing up and stopping the richest corporations in their tracks. Few of us dreamed that we would see you, the people of the United States on our side, trying to do this in the heart of Empire. I don't know how to communicate the enormity of what this means.
They (the 1%) say that we don't have demands … they don't know, perhaps, that our anger alone would be enough to destroy them. But here are some things – a few "pre-revolutionary" thoughts I had – for us to think about together:
We want to put a lid on this system that manufactures inequality. We want to put a cap on the unfettered accumulation of wealth and property by individuals as well as corporations. As "cap-ists" and "lid-ites", we demand:
• An end to cross-ownership in businesses. For example, weapons manufacturers cannot own TV stations; mining corporations cannot run newspapers; business houses cannot fund universities; drug companies cannot control public health funds.
• Natural resources and essential infrastructure – water supply, electricity, health, and education – cannot be privatised.
• Everybody must have the right to shelter, education and healthcare.
• The children of the rich cannot inherit their parents' wealth.
This struggle has re-awakened our imagination. Somewhere along the way, capitalism reduced the idea of justice to mean just "human rights", and the idea of dreaming of equality became blasphemous. We are not fighting to tinker with reforming a system that needs to be replaced.
As a cap-ist and a lid-ite, I salute your struggle.
Salaam and Zindabad.
• This is the text of a speech given by the author at the People's University in Washington Square on 16 November 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/17/we-are-all-occupiers-arundhati-roy
November 16, 2011
Arundhati Roy on Naxals and OWS (Audio) - Against the Grain
There is a war going on in the tribal heartland of central and eastern India between the Naxalite Maoists and the Indian state, in which -- Arundhati Roy believes -- much is at stake. The award-winning writer discusses her time accompanying a group of Maoists in the forests, and the brutal counterinsurgency effort mounted against them by the Indian government. She also talks about the Occupy Wall Street movement and anticapitalism.
Mon 14, November 2011
Copyright: Against the Grain
Mon 14, November 2011
Copyright: Against the Grain
Arundhati Roy Speaks about Occupy Wall Street, and the fight of the Maoists
"Occupy Wall Street is "So Important Because It is in the Heart of Empire"
Arundhati Roy on Naxals, OWS -Against the Grain
There is a war going on in the tribal heartland of central and eastern India between the Naxalite Maoists and the Indian state, in which -- Arundhati Roy believes -- much is at stake. The award-winning writer discusses her time accompanying a group of Maoists in the forests, and the brutal counterinsurgency effort mounted against them by the Indian government. She also talks about the Occupy Wall Street movement and anticapitalism.
Mon 14, November 2011
Source:
http://www.againstthegrain.org/program/496/id/461219/mon-11-14-11-arundhati-roy-naxals-ows
November 15, 2011
November 14, 2011
Guest Picks: Arundhati Roy
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Arundhati Roy at the WNYC studios (Melissa Eagan) Writer Arundhati Roy was on the Lopate Show and she shared what she's been reading recently.What have you read or seen over the past year (book, play, film, etc…) that moved or surprised you?
Primo Levi's If This Is a Man.
What are you listening to right now?
Sharafat Khan's "Raag Nat Bihag."
What's the last great book you read?
Neruda's collected poems.
What's one thing you're a fan of that people might not expect?
Vilayat Khan's music.
What's your favorite comfort food?
Red rice and fish curry.
Source:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/articles/web-extras/2011/nov/10/guest-picks-arundhati-roy/
November 13, 2011
ARUNDHATI ROY AT THE PEOPLE'S U - WED November 16, 2011
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"Fearless Speech"
Internationally-lauded author, activist and world citizen Arundhati Roy will speak as part of the People's University, which exists to bring free education to all people. "Cap-ists" and "Lid-ites"
Arundhati Roy at the People's University in Washington Square Wednesday
November 16, 2011
12:30 PM - 1:15 PM
Location:
Washington Square Park
"Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds… Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free."
Arundhati Roy won the Booker prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things. Her non-fiction work includes An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers, and Broken Republic. An impassioned critic of neo-imperialism, military occupations, and violent models of economic 'development', Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004. Her consistent exposure of the Indian state's repressive policies has led to her being variously labelled a seditionist, secessionist, Maoist and unpatriotic troublemaker.
RSVP on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=316871611662319
Source:
http://peoplesu.tumblr.com/
"Fearless Speech"
Internationally-lauded author, activist and world citizen Arundhati Roy will speak as part of the People's University, which exists to bring free education to all people. "Cap-ists" and "Lid-ites"
Arundhati Roy at the People's University in Washington Square Wednesday
November 16, 2011
12:30 PM - 1:15 PM
Location:
Washington Square Park
"Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds… Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free."
Arundhati Roy won the Booker prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things. Her non-fiction work includes An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers, and Broken Republic. An impassioned critic of neo-imperialism, military occupations, and violent models of economic 'development', Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in 2004. Her consistent exposure of the Indian state's repressive policies has led to her being variously labelled a seditionist, secessionist, Maoist and unpatriotic troublemaker.
RSVP on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=316871611662319
Source:
http://peoplesu.tumblr.com/
Arundhati Roy Gets Norman Mailer Writing Award
By Ela Dutt
Arundhati Roy, the passionate Indian rights activist and author, slammed aspects of American foreign policy and lashed out at the Indian government for using its armed forces against its own citizens at a high-profile event in New York City on Nov. 8, attended by, among others, President Bill Clinton.
Roy was speaking at the fundraising gala organized by the Norman Mailer Center at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City, where she was awarded the prestigious Norman Mailer Award for Distinguished Writing.
The award was presented to her by renowned movie director Jonathan Demme of "Silence of the Lambs" fame, whom she had met at the Cannes Film Festival some years ago, according to Lawrence Schiller, president and founder of the Norman Mailer Center and Norman Mailer Writers Colony.
Other award recipients included Nobel Prize Winner Elie Wiesel, who was honored with the Norman Mailer Lifetime Achievement Prize; Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards for Distinguished Biography; and Gay Talese who received the Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Journalism.
Roy is in the United States for a series of appearances, among them a Nov. 11 talk at the Asia Society in New York City before traveling to other states, including California.
Wearing a black sari with a printed blouse, Roy gave an eight-minute speech while accepting the award, in which she talked of how she developed her skills as a writer and also about how she lived in a country that had enormous resources and beauty but had not reconciled its internal differences, Schiller told News India Times.
She spoke of how Kashmir remained an unresolved problem, and commented that using one's military force on one's own people is not the way to solve problems.
Roy broke into the world literary scene when she won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel "The God of Small Things," which is said to have sold 6 million copies.
Since then, she has become an activist on environmental and poverty issues, taking confrontational stands on global and national problems. "Arundhati Roy emerged on the literary scene as a writer of great integrity, style and skill," said Schiller who collaborated and worked with Mailer for 35 years.
"But even in that first book, there was a voice of action. But as time went on, her's was a voice that needed to be heard. Even as she gave up one area of communication, much like Norman Mailer, she began communicating on other things." That's why, he said, Roy was their choice despite the fact that she has only one novel to her name.
"I was the one who called her in India and told her (about the award). She was overwhelmed that it was an award for her writing. I said we were not giving it for writing alone but for her actions," Schiller said.
Mailer, who died in 2007, was an acclaimed novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and co-founder of The Village Voice.
"Mr. Mailer and I collaborated and worked together for 35 years. One thing we had in common – we were both people of action," said Schiller, a writer, movie producer and director who has won several awards.
The gala raised around $460,000 for the writers colony in Massachusetts, which invites aspiring and established authors from around the world to be in residence.
The event was attended by many renowned writers from around the world, Schiller said. "There were Nobel Prize winners, Booker Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, big business from the United States and the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Russia. It was the biggest literary event in the country," he contended.
Schiller, who was with Mailer when he died, said the two had decided to start the writers center that has on its board Salman Rushdie, Joan Didion and others.
Source:http://www.newsindia-times.com/NewsIndiaTimes/20111111/5695200046477163569.htm
Arundhati Roy, the passionate Indian rights activist and author, slammed aspects of American foreign policy and lashed out at the Indian government for using its armed forces against its own citizens at a high-profile event in New York City on Nov. 8, attended by, among others, President Bill Clinton.
Roy was speaking at the fundraising gala organized by the Norman Mailer Center at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City, where she was awarded the prestigious Norman Mailer Award for Distinguished Writing.
The award was presented to her by renowned movie director Jonathan Demme of "Silence of the Lambs" fame, whom she had met at the Cannes Film Festival some years ago, according to Lawrence Schiller, president and founder of the Norman Mailer Center and Norman Mailer Writers Colony.
Other award recipients included Nobel Prize Winner Elie Wiesel, who was honored with the Norman Mailer Lifetime Achievement Prize; Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards for Distinguished Biography; and Gay Talese who received the Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Journalism.
Roy is in the United States for a series of appearances, among them a Nov. 11 talk at the Asia Society in New York City before traveling to other states, including California.
Wearing a black sari with a printed blouse, Roy gave an eight-minute speech while accepting the award, in which she talked of how she developed her skills as a writer and also about how she lived in a country that had enormous resources and beauty but had not reconciled its internal differences, Schiller told News India Times.
She spoke of how Kashmir remained an unresolved problem, and commented that using one's military force on one's own people is not the way to solve problems.
Roy broke into the world literary scene when she won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel "The God of Small Things," which is said to have sold 6 million copies.
Since then, she has become an activist on environmental and poverty issues, taking confrontational stands on global and national problems. "Arundhati Roy emerged on the literary scene as a writer of great integrity, style and skill," said Schiller who collaborated and worked with Mailer for 35 years.
"But even in that first book, there was a voice of action. But as time went on, her's was a voice that needed to be heard. Even as she gave up one area of communication, much like Norman Mailer, she began communicating on other things." That's why, he said, Roy was their choice despite the fact that she has only one novel to her name.
"I was the one who called her in India and told her (about the award). She was overwhelmed that it was an award for her writing. I said we were not giving it for writing alone but for her actions," Schiller said.
Mailer, who died in 2007, was an acclaimed novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and co-founder of The Village Voice.
"Mr. Mailer and I collaborated and worked together for 35 years. One thing we had in common – we were both people of action," said Schiller, a writer, movie producer and director who has won several awards.
The gala raised around $460,000 for the writers colony in Massachusetts, which invites aspiring and established authors from around the world to be in residence.
The event was attended by many renowned writers from around the world, Schiller said. "There were Nobel Prize winners, Booker Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, big business from the United States and the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Russia. It was the biggest literary event in the country," he contended.
Schiller, who was with Mailer when he died, said the two had decided to start the writers center that has on its board Salman Rushdie, Joan Didion and others.
Source:http://www.newsindia-times.com/NewsIndiaTimes/20111111/5695200046477163569.htm
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