Public Power in the Age of Empire

Open Media

by Arundhati Roy

In her major address to the 99th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association on August 16, 2004, "Public Power in the Age of Empire," broadcast nationally on C-Span Book TV and on Democracy Now! and Alternative Radio, writer Arundhati Roy brilliantly examines the limits to democracy in the world today. Bringing the same care to her prose that she brought to her Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things, Roy discusses the need for social movements to contest the occupation of Iraq and the reduction of "democracy" to elections with no meaningful alternatives allowed. She explores the dangers of the "NGO-ization of resistance," shows how governments that block nonviolent dissent in fact encourage terrorism, and examines the role of the corporate media in marginalizing oppositional voices.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Essays, Theory, History, Asia, Political Science

64 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Arundhati Roy is an Indian writer who is also an activist who focuses on issues related to social justice and economic inequality. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays.

For her work as an activist she received the Cultural Freedom Prize awarded by the Lannan Foundation in 2002.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrorism is vicious, ugly, and dehumanizing for its perpetrators as well as its victims. But so is war. You could says that terrorism is the privatization of war. Terrorists are the free marketers of war. They are people who don't believe that the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.




renowned author, global justice activist


This is a pretty slim book, in fact it's called a pamphlet by the publisher, Seven Stories Press. In 2004 the author presented the keynote address at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Society. The text of this pamphlet is based on that talk. It's one of the Open Media offerings by Seven Stories. Others have been written by authors such as Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, and Howard Zinn.

The address soon after aired on C-SPAN Book TV, Democracy Now!, and Alternative Radio, and was circulated by e-mail around the world. Simply Google the name of the book, you'll see many of the ways of obtaining or listening to the address, some free.

The Library of Congress classifies it, not as Social Science, but as Political Science; category Theories of the State; subcategory Consent of the Governed. Perhaps Roy's main thesis as that as the control of government slips more and more into the hands of the mega-rich (including most notably huge international organizations) the "consent of the governed" – ostensibly exercised in democratic elections – is morphing into the direction of policy by the mega-rich entities.

Roy sometimes makes statements that are seemingly very misleading: such as how Americans identify will their government. But it’s a nuanced identity that she speaks of, primarily that of being protected by the state from the rest of the world, which we are told hate us. Paranoia. Terrorists are out to get us. We are being infiltrated, and indeed are already in danger from, "the other" – those unlike us. (And this address was delivered as GW Bush was about to be reelected – seemingly ages before our current descent into the maelstrom!)

Roy's concrete examples come, mostly, from either India or the U.S. India is bad enough, for her – but the U.S. is really the locus of the evil she sees in the Age of Empire.

Now that part of the title can be misleading also. Isn't the Age of Empire over? wasn't that the age of colonialism? When the sun never set? Not so. The new Age of Empire is now - the Age of multi-national, mega-rich corporations – and the political lackeys who do their bidding.

I've underlined on every single page of the book. I doubt that Noam Chomsky would disagree with many of those underlined passages. Roy knows Chomsky's view very well.

I'll finish this with a quote about terrorism.

As the rift between the rich and poor grows, as the need to appropriate and control the world's resources to feed the great capitalist machine becomes more urgent, the unrest will only escalate … The mandarins of the corporate world, the CEOs, the bankers, the politicians, the judges and look down on us from on high and shake their heads sternly. "There's no alternative," they say, and let slip the dogs of war.

Then, from the ruins of Afghanistan, from the rubble of Iraq and Chechnya, from the streets of occupied Palestine and the mountains of Kashmir, from the hills and plains of Columbia, and the forests of Andhra Pradesh and Assam, comes the chilling reply: "There's no alternative but terrorism."

But Roy urges, hopefully,

There is an alternative to terrorism. It's called justice.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Previous review: The Tecate Journals
Next review: August 1914 the Red Wheel
Earlier review: Sailing Alone Around the Room

Previous library review: Nations and Nationalism since 1780 Hobsbawm
Next library review: On Tyranny Snyder

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, and entirely worth the read. I'm giving it four stars because I don't remember it well enough to give it five (I read it in a post-malarial haze of generalized existential sensitivity to how fucked up this world is, when you get right down to it), but I do remember thinking that this speech got right to the heart of the matter and made the point in the way it needed to be made.

[philosophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Όσα θα έπρεπε να είναι αυτονόητα αλλά δεν είναι, σε 59 πολύ σημαντικές σελίδες.

[Suzanne F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure if one can really consider this a "book", it's more of a political pamphlet, but it was still a relatively quick (one-and-a-half days is quick for me) and enjoyable read! Arundhati Roy is an incredibly powerful writer! One of the things that I wished for when I was reading this pamphlet were footnotes - I wished Roy could have provided the reader with the adequate reading material that she used to base her opinions and writing on. However, if anyone is curious, this book is a slimmer version of her anthology of essays, Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy. As Listening to Grasshoppers was the next book by Roy that I did read, I could see that Public Power in the Age of Empire had borrowed much of the language used in Listening to Grasshoppers. None of my little complaints however took away from Roy's message that nothing short of organized and engaged political action by people will ever be able to change our world.

[Amy Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. So many things I've never considered about the nature of political resistance and the role of the corporation in imperialism. Also interesting to consider terrorism vs. resistance and how those lines can be blurred. Short and quick, it makes me interested in reading more of her political works.

[Wei Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manifesto-like text that denounce violence while condemning neoliberalism. The pamphlet, as the publisher calls it, which has merely 59 pages, can be finished in merely one day. But this rather short text provides us, not surprisingly, a vivid image of how violence escalate violence, how government manipulate public/people, and how empire rules this world.
"...Empire does not always appear bin the form of cruise missiles and tanks,..It appears in their lives in very local avatars - losing their jobs, being sent unplayable electricity bills, having their water supply cut, being evicted from their homes and uprooted from their land." (p.28)
But not just pathological analysis, it goes deeper into the field where the resistance form its shape, and warmed us against the danger facing the mass movement we passionately support.
"Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are vital but alone are not powerful enough to stop wars." (p.39)
But it is, still, an attempt not to give answer but to raise awareness. As a public address delivered to the American Sociological Association, the text leads us through the invasion of Iraq to the armed struggle in India, questions our understanding of democracy, idea of government, and perception of a globalized future.
"One does not endorse the violence of these militant groups.... But to condemn it without first denouncing the much greater violence perpetrated by the state would be to deny the people of these regions not just their basic human rights, but even the right to a fair hearing." (P.54)

[selin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Points for later
- cannot merely support 'pristine' movements, because then what form of resistance would be worth supporting?
- NGOs as a buffer/"reasonable man" in the unreasonable fight between empire/not - interfere with the possibility of the people's resistance via employing of possible activists into systems that exacerbate the idea of a 9-5/complying to the system as resistance (it is not.)
- "when every avenue of nonviolent dissent is closed down , and everyone who protests against the violation of their human rights is called a terrorist, should we really be surprised if vast parts of the country are overrun by those who believe in armed struggle..."
- 'terrorism for those who don't believe in the state monopolizing legitimate use of violence'

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really quick and digestible text that really engages the reader in conversation. It brings up a few really great overarching questions but do not present answers as the questions are more open and complex than could be answered here - if at all. Topics include resistance, news reporting, democracy, civil society, and what Roy calls "NGO-ization".

[Frankie Leach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Arundhati Roy, she's my favourite shaking first at the sky author. These essays span a career of over twenty years, meaning some are a little out of date. But the premise is the same, the world is f*cked and people power is the only way to fix it. Adalante, see you on the barricades Arundhati.

[Jamie Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A one-sitting essay that I read through the lens of our current administration and it’s really interesting how the Bush administration now, 20+ years later, has a softer lens to its legacy, while Roy talks about it in a very similar way to current political rhetoric (deservedly so).

[Jen Thorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

As vital, clear, and instructive now in 2020 as it was in 2004.

[Brody Seaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only about 60 pages but nonetheless amazing. I feel refreshed in my understanding of our world and look forward to reading a lot more of Arundhati Roy in the future.

[Tanveer]

There's nothing new here if you are already familiar with her other works. Except, maybe, the mention of World Social Forum (for me at least).

[tahi k · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love arundhati roy when she isn’t writing about incest

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The least shocking thing yet the most frightening is how relevant this twenty year old work is. Roy predicted much of what has happened.

[Nadia Nazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

yes

Even though it was written and published in 2004, it feels so resonant to everything going on right now.

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!!!

[Phoebe Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuck state violence fuck neoliberalism fuck war fuck colonialism fuck the empire it’s really time for PUBLIC POWER

[Sam Hill-Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needed a break from Naked Lunch’s endlessly esoteric detours and literary schizophrenia by retreating to something a little more sobering…

[Omikun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational and beautifully written.

[rith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice pairing with (or addendum to) Chomsky’s “Media Control”

[Lisa Bermingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time reading anything by Arundhati Roy and it won’t be the last. Published in the early 2000s but unfortunately remains as disturbingly pertinent.

“Terrorism is vicious, ugly, and dehumanizing for its perpetrators as well as its victims. But so is war. You could say that terrorism is the privatization of war. Terrorists are the free-marketeers of war. They are people who don’t believe that the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.”

[Matt Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent essay, adapted from a 2004 speaking engagement. Still as relevant and engaging as it was thirteen years ago, for better or worse.

[Lauren Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are 'democracies' still democratic? Are governments accountable to the people who elect them? These are some of the questions that Arundhati Roy asks in her brief but insightful speech (this little book is the transcription, and can also be found free online). We live in an Age of Empire, she argues, characterised by economic colonialism and the repression of resistance.

Using Indian and American governments as her main examples, Roy discusses the ways in which governments can manipulate the people they're supposed to serve, and how elections have the illusion of ideological choice. While people might get the governments they vote for they might not get the governments they want. Or need. In third world countries, the national agenda is often not dictated by the needs of the people, but by the demands of foreign capital and freemarket capitalism which are given the label of 'reform'. However, these 'reforms' lead to mass unemployment and poverty. Faced with the threat of being crippled by capital flight, governments continue to facilitate the economic exploitation of their countries. Consequently, Roy says, it is impossible for governments to achieve radical change. It is only the public that can do so.

In the second half she looks at some of the dangers that resistance movements face, such as their relationship with the mass media and the use of NGOs to defuse political resistance. What I found especially powerful was her argument that public power in the age of Empire can be forced to resort to terrorism (which here is loosely defined as violent resistance) as a direct consequence of governments' merciless crackdown on resistance in all forms. If governments are not open to change through non-violent resistance, then they are in fact endorsing violence as the only choice of action for an oppressed and exploited public.

Overall I found this to be a very useful, memorable book that should be easy for the most readers to understand. In a very few pages it provides an essential critical perspective with which to view contemporary global politics, particularly the depiction of humanitarian struggles by the media and political authorities. Even if you don't agree with everything Roy says, this essay does you the valuable service of dissuading you from swallowing information whole and encouraging you to learn more and think more carefully and critically about the way in which countries and global powers are treating human beings.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the text of a speech that Roy gave to the American Sociological Association. It's brief and to the point, and deals with the nature of public power when 'power' is really more violence used by government and property held by multinational corporations.
You don't actually need to get the book. The full speech is available free online at http://www.democracynow.org/static/Ar...

I think perhaps some of the most provocative lines for me were these:
"No government's condemnation of terrorism is credible if it cannot show itself to be open to change by to nonviolent dissent.
Meanwhile, governments and the corporate media, and let's not forget the film industry, lavish their time, attention, technology, research, and admiration on war and terrorism. Violence has been deified.
The message this sends is disturbing and dangerous: If you seek to air a public grievance, violence is more effective than nonviolence. "
-and-
"Terrorism is vicious, ugly, and dehumanizing for its perpetrators, as well as its victims. But so is war. You could say that terrorism is the privatization of war. Terrorists are the free marketers of war. They are people who don't believe that the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence."

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still super relevant in 2026

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and inspiring speech.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one says it all.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Direct and concise assessment of western imperialism in the 21st century and its effect on "democracy/democracies" around the world.

[James Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good - very Bush-era.