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Walking With The Comrades
The terse, typewritten note slipped under my door in a sealed envelope confirmed my appointment with India s single biggest internal security challenge . I d been waiting for months to hear from them... In early 2010, Arundhati Roy travelled into the forests of Central India, homeland to millions of indigenous people, dreamland to some of the world s biggest mining corporations. The result is this powerful and unprecedented report from the heart of an unfolding revolution.
130 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
125 people are currently reading
3569 people want to read
About the author
Arundhati Roy
100 books13.5k followersArundhati 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.
For her work as an activist she received the Cultural Freedom Prize awarded by the Lannan Foundation in 2002.
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June 21, 2014
It is five stars even before I have touched it. I hold the small book like a sacred text. There is an element of fear - what if the writing is not as soul stirring as 'The God Of Small Things'? I worship Arundhati Roy's writing, her madness. But this is non-fiction I remind myself. So Comrade Rahel and Comrade Estha will not drench me in their torrential emotions, the extremely irritable and idiosyncratic Chacko will be missing, Sophie Mol will still be sleeping peacefully and wild Ammu and her lover, Ammachi, Papachi, the Jam factory....
Hey but there are comrades in this one too - real ones. Comrades of the forest. The Maoist and Naxalite rebellions are one of the oldest in India. This book is the journal of Roy's visit to the dense jungles of the dreaded DandaKaranya forests in Chattisgarh, in central India, home and hub to the Maoist movement where the comrades greet her with ‘Lal Salaams’. It is a presentation, a glimpse into the lives of the revolutionaries, these oppressed, oppressive people, a first hand experience of what they think of the Government, the Police hunting them like dogs and the other part of society; the other part that have a freedom to live – to live freely.
Lord Ganesha agreed to write the Mahabharata only if Ved Vyasa, without a pause would narrate the entire epic lest he influenced his own thoughts in the narrative. It is a crime for a translator to involve her thoughts, to be biased but Roy does extend a small hand of empathy and pulls the rope towards the Maoists. But then she is the very few who makes an attempt, who tries to tell the other side of the story.
Who ARE these Maoists, these tribals? Why are they Maoists, why did they become them? Were they created, do they love to kill, why the revolution in ones own country by these poor villagers? These inquiries are far from getting easy answers but when the government and the papers feign to clarify, the faint line between fact and fiction is ostentatiously blurred. Roy attempts to tell their tale, their version. Isn't it funny when the tribal villagers ask the Naxals to come and save them, but they are the projected atrocious lot, aren't they? Is it only natural to pick up a gun and defend and kill when you are evicted or lured and threatened into eviction by the Government to please the Corporate and earn from their meaty industrial plans? Or does it need the repeated burning down of not only houses but entire villages, rationing food and medicines, raping at will. Would they not have been happy tilling their lands? This is their land, isn't it, their forest, who is the intruder? The hunter has become the hunted. The Government calls this movement ‘Salva Judum’ – the purification hunt! Ha!
It is important to know why they have chosen this homeless life else who would like to walk days on end in the dangers of the wild, man being a bigger threat than the animals. Living in temporary makeshift huts and always being in hiding is not exactly an idea of a great life, is it? Fear isn't good but they are the fearless.
Arundhati Roy, in her lucid and sarcastic statements evidences that Maoists like us, are men and women of flesh and blood, they bleed, they get angry, they laugh, they cry; sing, like to enjoy just like us. They do what they do and have chosen this difficult path for a reason. The bare and basic reason for survival, for existence!
Some excerpts from her beautiful observations and writing:
“It’s an upside-down town, inside-out town. In Dantewada the police wear plain clothes and the rebels wear uniforms. The jail superintendent is in jail. The prisoners are free (three hundred of them escaped from the old town jail two years ago. Women who have been raped are in police custody. The rapists give speeches in the bazaar.”
"The drive from Raipur to Dantewada takes about ten hours through areas known to be 'Maoist-infested'. These are not careless words. 'Infest/infestation' implies disease/pests. Diseases must be cured. Pests must be exterminates. Maoists must be wiped out. In these creeping. innocuous ways the language of genocide has entered our vocabulary."
Of a village, house where she stopped – “There is a spare beauty about the place. Everything is clean and necessary.”
“We will meet a Didi (Sister Comrade) who knows what the next step of the journey will be. There is an economy of information too. Nobody is supposed to know everything.”
“I remember my visit to the opencast iron-ore mines in Keonjar, Orissa. There was forest there once. And children like these. Now the land is like a raw, red wound.”
“We are approaching the ‘Border’. ‘Do you know what to do if we come under fire?” Sukhdev asks casually, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Immediately declare an indefinite hunger-strike;”
Hey but there are comrades in this one too - real ones. Comrades of the forest. The Maoist and Naxalite rebellions are one of the oldest in India. This book is the journal of Roy's visit to the dense jungles of the dreaded DandaKaranya forests in Chattisgarh, in central India, home and hub to the Maoist movement where the comrades greet her with ‘Lal Salaams’. It is a presentation, a glimpse into the lives of the revolutionaries, these oppressed, oppressive people, a first hand experience of what they think of the Government, the Police hunting them like dogs and the other part of society; the other part that have a freedom to live – to live freely.
Lord Ganesha agreed to write the Mahabharata only if Ved Vyasa, without a pause would narrate the entire epic lest he influenced his own thoughts in the narrative. It is a crime for a translator to involve her thoughts, to be biased but Roy does extend a small hand of empathy and pulls the rope towards the Maoists. But then she is the very few who makes an attempt, who tries to tell the other side of the story.
Who ARE these Maoists, these tribals? Why are they Maoists, why did they become them? Were they created, do they love to kill, why the revolution in ones own country by these poor villagers? These inquiries are far from getting easy answers but when the government and the papers feign to clarify, the faint line between fact and fiction is ostentatiously blurred. Roy attempts to tell their tale, their version. Isn't it funny when the tribal villagers ask the Naxals to come and save them, but they are the projected atrocious lot, aren't they? Is it only natural to pick up a gun and defend and kill when you are evicted or lured and threatened into eviction by the Government to please the Corporate and earn from their meaty industrial plans? Or does it need the repeated burning down of not only houses but entire villages, rationing food and medicines, raping at will. Would they not have been happy tilling their lands? This is their land, isn't it, their forest, who is the intruder? The hunter has become the hunted. The Government calls this movement ‘Salva Judum’ – the purification hunt! Ha!
It is important to know why they have chosen this homeless life else who would like to walk days on end in the dangers of the wild, man being a bigger threat than the animals. Living in temporary makeshift huts and always being in hiding is not exactly an idea of a great life, is it? Fear isn't good but they are the fearless.
Arundhati Roy, in her lucid and sarcastic statements evidences that Maoists like us, are men and women of flesh and blood, they bleed, they get angry, they laugh, they cry; sing, like to enjoy just like us. They do what they do and have chosen this difficult path for a reason. The bare and basic reason for survival, for existence!
Some excerpts from her beautiful observations and writing:
“It’s an upside-down town, inside-out town. In Dantewada the police wear plain clothes and the rebels wear uniforms. The jail superintendent is in jail. The prisoners are free (three hundred of them escaped from the old town jail two years ago. Women who have been raped are in police custody. The rapists give speeches in the bazaar.”
"The drive from Raipur to Dantewada takes about ten hours through areas known to be 'Maoist-infested'. These are not careless words. 'Infest/infestation' implies disease/pests. Diseases must be cured. Pests must be exterminates. Maoists must be wiped out. In these creeping. innocuous ways the language of genocide has entered our vocabulary."
Of a village, house where she stopped – “There is a spare beauty about the place. Everything is clean and necessary.”
“We will meet a Didi (Sister Comrade) who knows what the next step of the journey will be. There is an economy of information too. Nobody is supposed to know everything.”
“I remember my visit to the opencast iron-ore mines in Keonjar, Orissa. There was forest there once. And children like these. Now the land is like a raw, red wound.”
“We are approaching the ‘Border’. ‘Do you know what to do if we come under fire?” Sukhdev asks casually, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Immediately declare an indefinite hunger-strike;”
June 4, 2023
3 essays compiled:
2009 “Mr. Chidambaram’s War”
2010 “Walking with the Comrades”
2010 “Trickledown Revolution”
The Good:
--Nestled between 2 essays surveying the practices of and policies against the Communist Party of India (Maoists) is Roy’s riveting account of her visit with the Maoists.
--Roy is clear to point out the contradictions of the Maoists, from their history of rigid foreign policy stances to their obvious use of violence.
--However, the overarching picture and power relations are the key theme. The Indian state is pursuing a capitalist development model embedded in global capitalism, where economic growth is the end goal. Economic growth is not inherently tied to social development (health, education, leisure, community), let alone living-wage jobs for everyone:
a) Commodifying natural resources and selling it all off is tremendous for (short-term) economic growth. Such global extraction schemes require privatizing the Commons ("Enclosures"), where those dispossessed of access to land find little relief in growing urban slums.
b) Industrial agriculture: the Green Revolution needs to be carefully unpacked elsewhere. The problem raised is the masses of subsistence farmers are seen as useless to economic growth, once again dispossessed and left to fill urban slums; comparing with China's massive agrarian transition might be useful too (see end).
c) Outsourced services have been heralded as the path to development, especially in the so-called post-industrial era. Roy only touches on the degraded work of mass training programs to make Indian services (i.e. support call centers) sound indistinguishable from where the call originated. Further readings (but mostly framed around the Global North) include the under-valuing of care-work (The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values) and corporate bureaucracy (Bullshit Jobs: A Theory). For Global South, perhaps Planet of Slums...
d) "High productivity" jobs like Information Technology provide a minuscule number of jobs (furthermore, the productivity is based on mass-automating human labour).
...This is the story of global capitalism’s jobless growth, as described by Roy in Capitalism: A Ghost Story; also see Vijay Prashad:
-https://youtu.be/z11ohWnuwa0
-https://youtu.be/ZhkA3LVpbxg
--In the above context, the Maoists’ revolutionary zeal dissipates into a refusal to roll over and die. People are riddled with contradictions, and extreme conditions bring these boiling up to the surface. However, moral condemnation of symptoms serves to hide structural causes. Apart from the contradictory promises of liberal economic growth, Roy points to Gandhian liberal reformism (“trusteeship of the rich”) to “peacefully” allow the rich to hold onto their wealth and wait for it to trickle-down.
The Missing:
--While not relating directly to "Maoism" as a revolutionary strategy, it is useful to compare the social development between India and China. The most frequently cited example of communism’s failure is the famine deaths of 1959-61 China under Mao. Isolating historical events knowing Western audiences have no context (in this case, the deprivation of pre-revolution China) is nuanced propaganda. In fact, there is a neighboring country (India) with:
i) A similar historical context (large population of agrarian economy ravaged by colonialism, see: Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World)
ii) Conveniently went a separate route of industrialization (parliamentary democracy + liberal market) in the same time frame.
--Consider the comparison made in Hunger and Public Action:
1) China’s dramatic rise in life expectancy occurred prior to its 1979 market liberalization’s economic growth:
2) China’s focus on social support:
3) Despite China’s Great Famine, how do life-expectancies compare?
2009 “Mr. Chidambaram’s War”
2010 “Walking with the Comrades”
2010 “Trickledown Revolution”
The Good:
--Nestled between 2 essays surveying the practices of and policies against the Communist Party of India (Maoists) is Roy’s riveting account of her visit with the Maoists.
--Roy is clear to point out the contradictions of the Maoists, from their history of rigid foreign policy stances to their obvious use of violence.
--However, the overarching picture and power relations are the key theme. The Indian state is pursuing a capitalist development model embedded in global capitalism, where economic growth is the end goal. Economic growth is not inherently tied to social development (health, education, leisure, community), let alone living-wage jobs for everyone:
a) Commodifying natural resources and selling it all off is tremendous for (short-term) economic growth. Such global extraction schemes require privatizing the Commons ("Enclosures"), where those dispossessed of access to land find little relief in growing urban slums.
b) Industrial agriculture: the Green Revolution needs to be carefully unpacked elsewhere. The problem raised is the masses of subsistence farmers are seen as useless to economic growth, once again dispossessed and left to fill urban slums; comparing with China's massive agrarian transition might be useful too (see end).
c) Outsourced services have been heralded as the path to development, especially in the so-called post-industrial era. Roy only touches on the degraded work of mass training programs to make Indian services (i.e. support call centers) sound indistinguishable from where the call originated. Further readings (but mostly framed around the Global North) include the under-valuing of care-work (The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values) and corporate bureaucracy (Bullshit Jobs: A Theory). For Global South, perhaps Planet of Slums...
d) "High productivity" jobs like Information Technology provide a minuscule number of jobs (furthermore, the productivity is based on mass-automating human labour).
...This is the story of global capitalism’s jobless growth, as described by Roy in Capitalism: A Ghost Story; also see Vijay Prashad:
-https://youtu.be/z11ohWnuwa0
-https://youtu.be/ZhkA3LVpbxg
--In the above context, the Maoists’ revolutionary zeal dissipates into a refusal to roll over and die. People are riddled with contradictions, and extreme conditions bring these boiling up to the surface. However, moral condemnation of symptoms serves to hide structural causes. Apart from the contradictory promises of liberal economic growth, Roy points to Gandhian liberal reformism (“trusteeship of the rich”) to “peacefully” allow the rich to hold onto their wealth and wait for it to trickle-down.
The Missing:
--While not relating directly to "Maoism" as a revolutionary strategy, it is useful to compare the social development between India and China. The most frequently cited example of communism’s failure is the famine deaths of 1959-61 China under Mao. Isolating historical events knowing Western audiences have no context (in this case, the deprivation of pre-revolution China) is nuanced propaganda. In fact, there is a neighboring country (India) with:
i) A similar historical context (large population of agrarian economy ravaged by colonialism, see: Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World)
ii) Conveniently went a separate route of industrialization (parliamentary democracy + liberal market) in the same time frame.
--Consider the comparison made in Hunger and Public Action:
1) China’s dramatic rise in life expectancy occurred prior to its 1979 market liberalization’s economic growth:
In fact, it seems fairly clear that the Chinese growth rate was not radically higher than that of India before the economic reforms of 1979, by which time the tremendous surge ahead in health and longevity had already taken place. In the pre-reform period, agricultural expansion in particular was sluggish in China, as it was in India, and the dramatic reduction in hunger and undernourishment and expansion of life expectancy in China were not ushered in by any spectacular rise in rural incomes or of food availability per head. […]
This is indeed the crucial point. The Chinese level of average opulence judged in terms of GNP per head, or total consumption per capita, or food consumption per person, did not radically increase during the period in which China managed to take a gigantic step forward in matters of life and death, moving from a life expectancy at birth in the low 40s (like the poorest countries today) to one in the high 60s (getting within hitting distance of Europe and North America). [p.208]
2) China’s focus on social support:
As far as support-led security is concerned, the Chinese efforts have been quite spectacular. The network of health services introduced in post-revolutionary China in a radical departure from the past—involving cooperative medical systems, commune clinics, barefoot doctors, and widespread public health measures—has been remarkably extensive. The contrast with India in this respect is striking enough. It is not only that China has more than twice as many doctors and nearly three times as many nurses per unit of population as India has. But also these and other medical resources are distributed more evenly across the country (even between urban and rural areas), with greater popular access to them than India has been able to organize.
Similar contrasts hold in the distribution of food through public channels and rationing systems, which have had an extensive coverage in China (except in periods of economic and political chaos, as during the famine of 1958-61, on which more presently). In India public distribution of food to the people, when it exists, is confined to the urban sector (except in a few areas such as the state of Kerala where the rural population also benefits from it, on which, too, more presently). Food distribution is, in fact, a part of a far-reaching programme of social security that distinguishes China from India. The impact of these programmes on protecting and promoting entitlements to food and basic necessities, including medical care, is reflected in the relatively low mortality and morbidity rates in China. [p.209]
3) Despite China’s Great Famine, how do life-expectancies compare?
Finally, it is important to note that despite the gigantic size of excess mortality in the Chinese famine, the extra mortality in India from regular deprivation in normal times vastly overshadows the former. Comparing India's death rate of 12 per thousand with China's of 7 per thousand, and applying that difference to the Indian population of 781 million in 1986, we get an estimate of excess normal mortality in India of 3.9 million per year. This implies that every eight years or so more people die in India because of its higher regular death rate than died in China in the gigantic famine of 1958-61. India seems to manage to fill its cupboard with more skeletons every eight years than China put there in its years of shame. [p.214-215]...Note: stellar radical political economist Utsa Patnaik disputes the Western mainstream famine death methodologies cited by (liberal) Sen, which I summarize in reviewing Sen's Hunger and Public Action.
May 14, 2025
Arundhati Roy’s on-the-ground account of the Indian state’s counterinsurgency war against Maoist guerrillas, contextualized within a broader critique of capitalist development and the consolidation of state power in postcolonial India, is timely and urgent. Drawing from her time embedded with insurgents in the forests of Chhattisgarh, Roy documents a conflict that is not merely “internal” but structurally global, driven by the imperatives of capital accumulation, land expropriation, and the penetration of transnational corporations into mineral-rich regions. What Roy reveals is the persistence of primitive accumulation in contemporary India: the forcible clearing of land, displacement of Adivasi communities, and militarization of territories in the service of extraction-based growth. Far from being an anomaly, this process is an essential feature of the Indian state's political economy, where capital requires coercion to access labor and resources not yet fully subsumed by the market.
Her analysis complicates the liberal democratic narrative that equates state authority with legitimacy and insurgency with criminality. Instead, she exposes how the Indian state functions as an organ of class rule, deploying police, paramilitary, and surveillance forces to secure favorable investment conditions for domestic and international capital. Roy’s brief but significant reference to israel's Mossad training Indian police further underscores the international character of this repression and the extent to which imperialist alliances shape counterinsurgency efforts in the Global South.
Roy's work is valuable not because it offers a final answer, but because it reframes the question: Who benefits from violence, and who is permitted to resist it?
Her analysis complicates the liberal democratic narrative that equates state authority with legitimacy and insurgency with criminality. Instead, she exposes how the Indian state functions as an organ of class rule, deploying police, paramilitary, and surveillance forces to secure favorable investment conditions for domestic and international capital. Roy’s brief but significant reference to israel's Mossad training Indian police further underscores the international character of this repression and the extent to which imperialist alliances shape counterinsurgency efforts in the Global South.
Roy's work is valuable not because it offers a final answer, but because it reframes the question: Who benefits from violence, and who is permitted to resist it?
March 13, 2021
Blown away... Journey with people who are suppressed. Journey that revealed many untold, fabricated events.
October 25, 2022
Like how the earth's tidal locking of the moon shows only its one side always to us, most often we are shown only the one side of certain socio-economic struggles of the marginalized people and natural resource exploitation issues. Most of the time this is achieved by the government and media of the rich and powerful via their rhetorical, misconstrued lies and smear campaigns for their benefits. But the author takes us to the unseen side of the moon and tells us the story of the people affected with facts and evenhanded criticism of both sides. If you look at the bigger picture of the irreversible environmental damages, societal inequalities created by the corporations supported by government in the name of development, it is hopeless and scary.
December 20, 2011
There's something stirring in India. A specter, if you will, of a dark time arisen and a dark time to come. Whether we call it capitalism, corporatism, or new (neo) Imperialism, the fact remains that those most affected by the shifting dynamics of contemporary industrialization will be the disenfranchised and the disinherited.
Arundhati Roy's (The God of Small Things, etc.) Walking with the Comrades waltzes straight into this new Indian world with passion and focus, chronicling her journey into the forests of India where Maoists and the few remaining indigenous people have dug in their heels. Each new day brings her closer to the heart of the movement that has set India's government on fire, spawning new counter-revolutionary police forces and new regulations and laws to strip people of their land for corporate profit. In the process, she crafts a disturbing narrative of the new Indian state, one
which will seem suspiciously familiar to Americans who know a little about the United States' history with the Native Americans.
Walking with the Comrades is a quick read, though by no means an easy one. Roy spends considerable time setting the stage for her walk with the Maoist "revolutionaries" in the forests of India. She provides cogent analyses of the Indian government's old and new programs for stifling dissent, the language they use, and the results of their activities. Likewise, she explores the history of communism in India, leading us through suppression, violent acts, revolts, and the mindset of the people on the ground -- the very comrades with which she walks. Walking with the Comrades, as such, is part of the grand tradition of travel narratives, but it is also an expansion of Roy's long and distinguished career as a novelist and cultural critic.
And it's the travel narrative aspect which is most compelling. True, Walking with the Comrades is about the political and economic situation in contemporary India, but it also an attempt to put a face on the great "security threat" of India. It's a clever tactic, because understanding that there are humans behind the mask of terror forces us to think about who we are fighting against, and why they are resisting. In the case of India, the Maoists are fighting a government that wants communism in all its forms destroyed, and the indigenous people protected by Maoists -- even if only for political gain -- moved off and adapted for industrial society -- at the expense of their traditions, native lands, etc. To realize who the Maoists are is to make blind faith to India's new cultural projects impossible, if not because we care about the Maoists and their goals -- most of us in the U.S. likely do not because we have a tendency to be ruthlessly anti-communist here -- then at least because we understand why they are doing what they do. Perhaps it's the optimist in me thinks that maybe reasonable compromise can be found in this cesspool of violence and hatred if only we can see the humanity in everything.
Still, some might be willing to dismiss Roy's work simply because she often provides polemics and doesn't seem altogether genuine when she concedes points to the opposition; in the case of Walking with the Comrades, Roy occasionally tries to suggest that the Indian government might have a solid rationale for some of their actions, yet the overwhelming majority of the book rips India to shreds, thereby weakening the conciliatory gesture. But to dismiss the book for this reason would be to discount what is clearly a problem that transcends borders and exposes the divisions and strategies utilized by a government bent not on compromises with indigenous people, but the destruction of their way of life. Even if you shrug Roy off as a wacky liberal, the facts point to a disturbing history which does not paint a pretty image for the Indian state. And even if you look at the other side, it's hard to ignore the words spoken by the people in charge, the projects set in place, the militarization of the police, and the general sense that things are not as they should be.
It's perhaps for that reason that I come out of Roy's book feeling unable to challenge the anger and disbelief she channels throughout her book, despite wearing my critical thinking cap during the reading process. Roy doesn't pull many punches when she attacks India's government and the corporations attached to it, but I found myself wondering why she bothered pulling the ones she did. If her facts are in order -- they are -- then what the Indian government is doing doesn't deserve conciliatory gestures, friendly discussion, or calm reasoning. Rather, it seems to me that to fight an extremist state, one must attack it with an extreme position. Roy certainly heads in that direction, and the result is an enormously educational reading experience. When I finished reading, I wondered where we are supposed to go from here. Maybe Roy will cover that in her next book...
Walking with the Comrades is one of the most compelling non-fiction books I have read this year, and certainly one worth remembering for years to come. If you're interested in contemporary Indian history or global capitalism, this is a book to add to your collection.
Read With:
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
Arundhati Roy's (The God of Small Things, etc.) Walking with the Comrades waltzes straight into this new Indian world with passion and focus, chronicling her journey into the forests of India where Maoists and the few remaining indigenous people have dug in their heels. Each new day brings her closer to the heart of the movement that has set India's government on fire, spawning new counter-revolutionary police forces and new regulations and laws to strip people of their land for corporate profit. In the process, she crafts a disturbing narrative of the new Indian state, one
which will seem suspiciously familiar to Americans who know a little about the United States' history with the Native Americans.
Walking with the Comrades is a quick read, though by no means an easy one. Roy spends considerable time setting the stage for her walk with the Maoist "revolutionaries" in the forests of India. She provides cogent analyses of the Indian government's old and new programs for stifling dissent, the language they use, and the results of their activities. Likewise, she explores the history of communism in India, leading us through suppression, violent acts, revolts, and the mindset of the people on the ground -- the very comrades with which she walks. Walking with the Comrades, as such, is part of the grand tradition of travel narratives, but it is also an expansion of Roy's long and distinguished career as a novelist and cultural critic.
And it's the travel narrative aspect which is most compelling. True, Walking with the Comrades is about the political and economic situation in contemporary India, but it also an attempt to put a face on the great "security threat" of India. It's a clever tactic, because understanding that there are humans behind the mask of terror forces us to think about who we are fighting against, and why they are resisting. In the case of India, the Maoists are fighting a government that wants communism in all its forms destroyed, and the indigenous people protected by Maoists -- even if only for political gain -- moved off and adapted for industrial society -- at the expense of their traditions, native lands, etc. To realize who the Maoists are is to make blind faith to India's new cultural projects impossible, if not because we care about the Maoists and their goals -- most of us in the U.S. likely do not because we have a tendency to be ruthlessly anti-communist here -- then at least because we understand why they are doing what they do. Perhaps it's the optimist in me thinks that maybe reasonable compromise can be found in this cesspool of violence and hatred if only we can see the humanity in everything.
Still, some might be willing to dismiss Roy's work simply because she often provides polemics and doesn't seem altogether genuine when she concedes points to the opposition; in the case of Walking with the Comrades, Roy occasionally tries to suggest that the Indian government might have a solid rationale for some of their actions, yet the overwhelming majority of the book rips India to shreds, thereby weakening the conciliatory gesture. But to dismiss the book for this reason would be to discount what is clearly a problem that transcends borders and exposes the divisions and strategies utilized by a government bent not on compromises with indigenous people, but the destruction of their way of life. Even if you shrug Roy off as a wacky liberal, the facts point to a disturbing history which does not paint a pretty image for the Indian state. And even if you look at the other side, it's hard to ignore the words spoken by the people in charge, the projects set in place, the militarization of the police, and the general sense that things are not as they should be.
It's perhaps for that reason that I come out of Roy's book feeling unable to challenge the anger and disbelief she channels throughout her book, despite wearing my critical thinking cap during the reading process. Roy doesn't pull many punches when she attacks India's government and the corporations attached to it, but I found myself wondering why she bothered pulling the ones she did. If her facts are in order -- they are -- then what the Indian government is doing doesn't deserve conciliatory gestures, friendly discussion, or calm reasoning. Rather, it seems to me that to fight an extremist state, one must attack it with an extreme position. Roy certainly heads in that direction, and the result is an enormously educational reading experience. When I finished reading, I wondered where we are supposed to go from here. Maybe Roy will cover that in her next book...
Walking with the Comrades is one of the most compelling non-fiction books I have read this year, and certainly one worth remembering for years to come. If you're interested in contemporary Indian history or global capitalism, this is a book to add to your collection.
Read With:
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
October 20, 2023
தண்டகாரண்யா என்று கூறப்படக்கூடிய மகாராஷ்டிரா; ஒரிசா; ஆந்திரா; மத்தியப்பிரதேசம்; சட்டிஸ்கர் ஆகிய மாநிலங்களின் பல பகுதிகளை அடக்கிய காட்டுப் பகுதியில் உள்ள மாவோயிஸ்டுகளுடன் எழுத்தாளர் அருந்ததி ராய் மேற்கொண்ட பயணத்தின் தொகுப்பே இந்நூல். இப்பயணத்தின் வழியே மாவோக்கள் தங்களின் வரலாற்றை (2010ம் ஆண்டுக்கு முந்தைய வரையிலான) கூறுகின்றனர். இது மாவோயிஸ்டுகள் சார்ந்த ஒருதலைப்பட்ச பார்வை என்று ஆசிரியர் குறிப்பிடுகிறார். எப்படி ஆயினும் பன்னாட்டு நிறுவனங்களின் கனிமவள சுரண்டல்களுக்கு மலைவாழ் பூர்வகுடி மக்கள் இரும்புக்கரம் கொண்டு வெளியேற்றப்படுவதும் வன்முறை; வன்புணர்வுக்கு உள்ளாக்கப்படுவதும் நிதர்சனமான உண்மையை. ஒப்பீட்டளவில் அரசு அதிக அளவில் வன்முறைகளை நிகழ்த்தி இருந்தாலும் மாவோயிஸ்டுகள் முற்றிலும் குற்றமற்றவர்கள் என்றும் கூறிவிட முடியாதுதான். எப்படியாயினும் அரசாங்கம் மொத்தமாக இவர்களுக்கு எதிராக உள்ள நிலையில் அருந்ததி ராய் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ள ஒரு வாக்கியம் தான் நினைவிற்கு வருகிறது "இந்த இடத்தில் நான் ஒன்றை கூறியாக வேண்டும் என்று நினைக்கிறேன். வன்முறையின் பயனின்மை குறித்து, ஆட்களை தீர்த்து கட்டுவது குறித்து. ஆனால் நான் அவர்களுக்கு பின்பு வேறு எதனை தான் பரிந்துரைக்க...? நீதிமன்றத்தை அணுகுமாறு சொல்வதா? புதுதில்லி ஜந்தர் மந்தரில் ஒரு தர்ணா செய்யுங்கள்? ஒரு பேரணி? ஒரு தொடர்
உண்ணாவிரதம்? இது ஏளனமாக உள்ளது."
உண்ணாவிரதம்? இது ஏளனமாக உள்ளது."
Read
March 28, 2017I have told myself many times I shouldn't be shocked by what people do, by what we do to each other, but I always am. Perhaps it's better not to adjust? To retain that vulnerability? Every time I call my mom she asks me if I've heard about this or that local atrocity--the murder, the rape, even the car accident. Everybody I know (myself included) is hardened to these things. It's too bad but how could anybody stand it otherwise? Not my mother. She's never developed that hardness to the world, and I used to think it a bad, or a dangerous trait. These days I'm not so sure.
The Indian government has made use of eminent domain laws to claim land inhabited primarily by desperately poor people, many of whom are adivasi people living on far fewer than twenty rupees daily. This land is then given over to multinationals for the extraction of such things as bauxite, the ore used in the production of aluminium. Of course, this extraction process is unfathomably toxic and damaging, and it requires vast amounts of water, which necessitates the installation of massive dams on rivers upon which even more desperately poor people depend, and that end up flooding their homes forever.
Very little, or more commonly nothing, is given to the people who have to make way for the trappings of modern industry, a thievery that has been justified by the resistance that has developed to this unholy practice. Some, left with no other recourse, have joined the Maoist insurrection, but to the Indian government, anybody unhappy about leaving home for the mining companies is a Maoist. Hence: Operation Green Hunt, the video-game-esque name given to the genocidal war being waged against people who have nothing at all. From whom what little they had has been taken. So that the ore beneath their villages can be smelted into yet more cars and weapons and mobile phones.
I try to pretend I'm not shocked, but I am. Next time mom tells me about a roll-over accident in Weld County I'll say, "Here's one for you..."
The Indian government has made use of eminent domain laws to claim land inhabited primarily by desperately poor people, many of whom are adivasi people living on far fewer than twenty rupees daily. This land is then given over to multinationals for the extraction of such things as bauxite, the ore used in the production of aluminium. Of course, this extraction process is unfathomably toxic and damaging, and it requires vast amounts of water, which necessitates the installation of massive dams on rivers upon which even more desperately poor people depend, and that end up flooding their homes forever.
Very little, or more commonly nothing, is given to the people who have to make way for the trappings of modern industry, a thievery that has been justified by the resistance that has developed to this unholy practice. Some, left with no other recourse, have joined the Maoist insurrection, but to the Indian government, anybody unhappy about leaving home for the mining companies is a Maoist. Hence: Operation Green Hunt, the video-game-esque name given to the genocidal war being waged against people who have nothing at all. From whom what little they had has been taken. So that the ore beneath their villages can be smelted into yet more cars and weapons and mobile phones.
I try to pretend I'm not shocked, but I am. Next time mom tells me about a roll-over accident in Weld County I'll say, "Here's one for you..."
March 3, 2020
Maoists are portrayed as terrorists, threat to masses by mainstream media and the Indian government. World's largest democracy is against its poorest tribal citizens and to the outer world these people are terrorists. If you want to know about India’s one of the darkest secrets which never gets limelight you must read this.
May 20, 2012
By Arundhati Roy. Grade: A+
I have heard a lot of things about Arundhati Roy. Surprisingly, all of them very good. However, the only piece I’d read up till this novel was years ago, when I was too young to fully understand – and appreciate the language of the novel. Walking With The Comrades was a pleasant surprise.
The terse, typewritten note slipped under my door in a sealed envelope confirmed my appointment with India’s Gravest Internal Security Threat. I’d been waiting for months to hear from them. I had to be at the Ma Danteshwari mandir in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, at any of four given times on two given days. That was to take care of bad weather, punctures, blockades, transport strikes and sheer bad luck. The note said: “Writer should have camera, tika and coconut. Meeter will have cap, Hindi Outlook magazine and bananas. Password: Namashkar Guruji.”
Namashkar Guruji. I wondered whether the Meeter and Greeter would be expecting a man. And whether I should get myself a moustache.
-
In early 2010, Arundhati Roy travelled into the forests of Central India, homeland to millions of indigenous people, dreamland to some of the world’s biggest mining corporations. The result is this powerful and unprecedented report from the heart of an unfolding revolution.
Quietly, unannounced, Arundhati Roy decided to visit the forbidding and forbidden precincts of Central India’s Dandakaranya Forests, home to a melange of tribespeople many of whom have taken up arms to protect their people against state-backed marauders and exploiters. She recorded in considerable detail the first face-to-face journalistic “encounter” with armed guerillas, their families and comrades, for which she combed the forests for weeks at personal risk.
The book is small, more of an article rather, and yet despite my aversion to thin novels, this one immediately grabbed my attention. The author is an activist who has frequently made news with her words, and her actions. She was even charged with an FIR claiming that she was making “Anti-Indian” speeches. Her response to it was quite applause-worthy, but that is in another novel.
In Dantewada, the police wear plain clothes and the rebels wear uniforms. The jail superintendent is in jail. The prisoners are free (three hundred of them escaped from the old town jail two years ago). Women who have been raped are in police custody. The rapists give speeches in the bazaar.
Across the Indravati river, in the area controlled by the Maoists, is the place the police call ‘Pakistan’. There the villages are empty, but the forest is full of people. Children who ought to be in school run wild. In the lovely forest villages, the concrete school buildings have either been blown up and lie in a heap, or they are full of policemen. The deadly war that is unfolding in the jungle is a war that the Government of India is both proud and shy of. Operation Green Hunt has been proclaimed as well as denied. P. Chidambaram, India’s home minister (and CEO of the war), says it does not exist, that it’s a media creation. And yet substantial funds have been allocated to it and tens of thousands of troops are being mobilised for it. Though the theatre of war is in the jungles of Central India, it will have serious consequences for us all.
The best thing about this book was perhaps the pictures. She has put in various photographs that she and her companion shot, while on the trip. A picture is more precious than a thousand words. Perhaps not in this case, but they still managed to show exactly what she was trying to show. They are simple, scenic images of simple people and broken huts, rather than beautiful superstars and gorgeous scenery, and hence made more of an impact. The crisp and succinct delivery makes the read extremely enjoyable:
I think of what Comrade Venu said to me: they want to crush us, not only because of the minerals, but because we are offering the world an alternative model.
It’s not an Alternative yet, this idea of Gram Swaraj with a Gun. There’s too much hunger, too much sickness here. But it has certainly created the possibilities for an alternative. Not for the whole world, not for Alaska, or New Delhi, nor even perhaps for the whole of Chhattisgarh, but for itself. For Dandakaranya. It’s the world’s best-kept secret. It has laid the foundations for an alternative to its own annihilation. It has defied history. Against the greatest odds it has forged a blueprint for its own survival. It needs help and imagination, it needs doctors, teachers, farmers.
It does not need war.
But if war is all it gets, it will fight back.
Unafraid, she states her opinion and touches sore topics that most ministers refuse to discuss. As an ordinary layman, Maoists are killers, barbarians, or as Dr Manmohan Singh put it, “India’s biggest internal security challenge.” But she changes the entire perception, or tries. She tells their story and paints them as brothers, parents and friends rather than plain murderers. When she talks about them, you see how she truly believes in cause and feel for each person dying out there. The words she has used for them are caressing and affectionate, like she is describing her mother to a close friend.
More than that, she puts up conclusive proof which challenges what till now we have taken as “unquestionable truth”. There are various instances of injustice and instead of being vague, she has named each criminal along with his post.
All in all, a treat not supposed to be missed. Go for it.
Originally reviewed at :http://the-vault.co.cc
I have heard a lot of things about Arundhati Roy. Surprisingly, all of them very good. However, the only piece I’d read up till this novel was years ago, when I was too young to fully understand – and appreciate the language of the novel. Walking With The Comrades was a pleasant surprise.
The terse, typewritten note slipped under my door in a sealed envelope confirmed my appointment with India’s Gravest Internal Security Threat. I’d been waiting for months to hear from them. I had to be at the Ma Danteshwari mandir in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, at any of four given times on two given days. That was to take care of bad weather, punctures, blockades, transport strikes and sheer bad luck. The note said: “Writer should have camera, tika and coconut. Meeter will have cap, Hindi Outlook magazine and bananas. Password: Namashkar Guruji.”
Namashkar Guruji. I wondered whether the Meeter and Greeter would be expecting a man. And whether I should get myself a moustache.
-
In early 2010, Arundhati Roy travelled into the forests of Central India, homeland to millions of indigenous people, dreamland to some of the world’s biggest mining corporations. The result is this powerful and unprecedented report from the heart of an unfolding revolution.
Quietly, unannounced, Arundhati Roy decided to visit the forbidding and forbidden precincts of Central India’s Dandakaranya Forests, home to a melange of tribespeople many of whom have taken up arms to protect their people against state-backed marauders and exploiters. She recorded in considerable detail the first face-to-face journalistic “encounter” with armed guerillas, their families and comrades, for which she combed the forests for weeks at personal risk.
The book is small, more of an article rather, and yet despite my aversion to thin novels, this one immediately grabbed my attention. The author is an activist who has frequently made news with her words, and her actions. She was even charged with an FIR claiming that she was making “Anti-Indian” speeches. Her response to it was quite applause-worthy, but that is in another novel.
In Dantewada, the police wear plain clothes and the rebels wear uniforms. The jail superintendent is in jail. The prisoners are free (three hundred of them escaped from the old town jail two years ago). Women who have been raped are in police custody. The rapists give speeches in the bazaar.
Across the Indravati river, in the area controlled by the Maoists, is the place the police call ‘Pakistan’. There the villages are empty, but the forest is full of people. Children who ought to be in school run wild. In the lovely forest villages, the concrete school buildings have either been blown up and lie in a heap, or they are full of policemen. The deadly war that is unfolding in the jungle is a war that the Government of India is both proud and shy of. Operation Green Hunt has been proclaimed as well as denied. P. Chidambaram, India’s home minister (and CEO of the war), says it does not exist, that it’s a media creation. And yet substantial funds have been allocated to it and tens of thousands of troops are being mobilised for it. Though the theatre of war is in the jungles of Central India, it will have serious consequences for us all.
The best thing about this book was perhaps the pictures. She has put in various photographs that she and her companion shot, while on the trip. A picture is more precious than a thousand words. Perhaps not in this case, but they still managed to show exactly what she was trying to show. They are simple, scenic images of simple people and broken huts, rather than beautiful superstars and gorgeous scenery, and hence made more of an impact. The crisp and succinct delivery makes the read extremely enjoyable:
I think of what Comrade Venu said to me: they want to crush us, not only because of the minerals, but because we are offering the world an alternative model.
It’s not an Alternative yet, this idea of Gram Swaraj with a Gun. There’s too much hunger, too much sickness here. But it has certainly created the possibilities for an alternative. Not for the whole world, not for Alaska, or New Delhi, nor even perhaps for the whole of Chhattisgarh, but for itself. For Dandakaranya. It’s the world’s best-kept secret. It has laid the foundations for an alternative to its own annihilation. It has defied history. Against the greatest odds it has forged a blueprint for its own survival. It needs help and imagination, it needs doctors, teachers, farmers.
It does not need war.
But if war is all it gets, it will fight back.
Unafraid, she states her opinion and touches sore topics that most ministers refuse to discuss. As an ordinary layman, Maoists are killers, barbarians, or as Dr Manmohan Singh put it, “India’s biggest internal security challenge.” But she changes the entire perception, or tries. She tells their story and paints them as brothers, parents and friends rather than plain murderers. When she talks about them, you see how she truly believes in cause and feel for each person dying out there. The words she has used for them are caressing and affectionate, like she is describing her mother to a close friend.
More than that, she puts up conclusive proof which challenges what till now we have taken as “unquestionable truth”. There are various instances of injustice and instead of being vague, she has named each criminal along with his post.
All in all, a treat not supposed to be missed. Go for it.
Originally reviewed at :http://the-vault.co.cc
March 22, 2022
El govern hindú assassinant els seus ciutadans per satisfer els interessos d'empreses privades que volen espoliar els recursos que es troben en zones tribals. Els maoistes, defensant el poble de la policia i intentant promoure una societat al marge del control del capitalisme global. Una lectura obligatòria.
November 9, 2022
Το 2010, η ινδή αναγνωρισμένη συγγραφέας και υπέρμαχος των ανθρωπίνων (και ειδικά των γυναικείων) δικαιωμάτων Αρουντάτι Ρόι ζήτησε να δει από κοντά την ζωή των ανταρτών, οι οποίοι έχουν αναπτυχθεί σε τεράστιες εκτάσεις στην Ινδία, κεντρικά στη χώρα και οργανώνουν την αντίσταση των ντόπιων φυλών στα φαραωνικά σχέδια των βιομηχανικών κολοσσών για καταπάτηση της γης τους. Είναι ένας πολύνεκρος πόλεμος, όπου η ειδικές μονάδες της αστυνομίας αμοίβονται με το κεφάλι και τους επιτρέπεται να λαφυραγωγούν στα χωριά. Λάφυρα είναι και οι γυναίκες, όχι μόνο τα λεφτά, οι κότες και τα γουρούνια.
Η Ρόι γράφει με κοφτές προτάσεις και σου μεταδίδει την ανασφάλειά της. Γράφει και την κριτική της για τους αντάρτες: για κάποιες άδικες δολοφονίες, για λάθος θέσεις σε ορισμένα πολιτικά ζητήματα, για το γεγονός ότι προσπαθούν, αλλά δεν έχουν καταφέρει ακόμα να δουν ισότιμα τις γυναίκες (όμως στην Ινδία, εδώ και αιώνες η θέση της γυναίκας ίσως είναι υποδεέστερη ακόμα και από τα θεοκρατικά καθεστώτα του ισλάμ, κι αυτό δεν αλλάζει έτσι απλά με την πολιτική θέληση)- εντούτοις, αναφέρει, ότι το 45% των μελών του κόμματος είναι γυναίκες, οι οποίες, κάποιες, μπαίνουν σε αυτό καταρχάς για να γλυτώσουν από την κτηνώδη αντιμετώπιση. Το θέμα αυτό είναι λογικό να απασχολεί σε πολλές σελίδες ειδικά την Ρόι, πάνω στο οποίο δραστηριοποιείται. Και πρέπει. Όμως αναλύει και την δομή της εξουσίας στην Ινδία.
Το ταξίδι της ήταν επιμορφωτικό:
"Δεν μπορώ να τον πιστέψω αυτόν τον στρατό*. Σε ό,τι αφορά την κατανάλωση, είναι πιο γκαντιστής από οποιονδήποτε γκαντιστή κι αφήνει λιγότερα ίχνη από κάθε ευαγγελιστή της κλιματικής αλλαγής. Προς το παρόν, όμως, έχει ακόμη και για το σαμποτάζ μια γκαντική προσέγγιση. Πριν πυρπολήσουν ένα αστυνομικό όχημα, για παράδειγμα, το διαλύουν και κάθε κομμάτι χρησιμεύει κάπου. Ισιώνουν το τιμόνι και το χρησιμοποιούν σαν κάννη σε αυτοσχέδιο όπλο, αφαιρούν την ταπετσαρία και κάνουν σακίδια για πυρομαχικά, την μπαταρία την φορτίζουν στον ήλιο. Οι νέες οδηγίες από την ανώτερη διοίκηση είναι ότι όσα οχήματα καταλαμβάνουν θα πρέπει να θάβονται και όχι να καίγονται. Έτσι μπορεί να τα ξεθάψουν όταν χρειαστεί."
Η Ρόι απαξιώνει τον Γκάντι. Ο Γκάντι έχει συμβάλλει με την φιλοσοφία του στην υποτέλεια και τη δουλοπρέπεια των χωρικών. Εδώ στην Ευρώπη έχουμε μπροστά τα τσιτάτα του, των οποίων η, ας πούμε, εφαρμογή, ΕΙΧΕ ΑΛΛΗ ΧΡΗΣΗ. Συμφωνώ. Άλλωστε ακόμα και ο σκληρός της αποικιοκρατίας Ρειημόν Καρτιέ, στην "Σύγχρονη Μεταπολεμική Παγκόσμια Ιστορία", παραδέχεται πως αν δεν ήταν ο Νεχρού ουσιαστικά, αλλά ο Γκάντι, οι ινδοί θα ήταν ακόμα Αγγλία. Σχηματικά αν το πάρουμε, έτσι είναι.
Η Ρόι γράφει με κοφτές προτάσεις και σου μεταδίδει την ανασφάλειά της. Γράφει και την κριτική της για τους αντάρτες: για κάποιες άδικες δολοφονίες, για λάθος θέσεις σε ορισμένα πολιτικά ζητήματα, για το γεγονός ότι προσπαθούν, αλλά δεν έχουν καταφέρει ακόμα να δουν ισότιμα τις γυναίκες (όμως στην Ινδία, εδώ και αιώνες η θέση της γυναίκας ίσως είναι υποδεέστερη ακόμα και από τα θεοκρατικά καθεστώτα του ισλάμ, κι αυτό δεν αλλάζει έτσι απλά με την πολιτική θέληση)- εντούτοις, αναφέρει, ότι το 45% των μελών του κόμματος είναι γυναίκες, οι οποίες, κάποιες, μπαίνουν σε αυτό καταρχάς για να γλυτώσουν από την κτηνώδη αντιμετώπιση. Το θέμα αυτό είναι λογικό να απασχολεί σε πολλές σελίδες ειδικά την Ρόι, πάνω στο οποίο δραστηριοποιείται. Και πρέπει. Όμως αναλύει και την δομή της εξουσίας στην Ινδία.
Το ταξίδι της ήταν επιμορφωτικό:
"Δεν μπορώ να τον πιστέψω αυτόν τον στρατό*. Σε ό,τι αφορά την κατανάλωση, είναι πιο γκαντιστής από οποιονδήποτε γκαντιστή κι αφήνει λιγότερα ίχνη από κάθε ευαγγελιστή της κλιματικής αλλαγής. Προς το παρόν, όμως, έχει ακόμη και για το σαμποτάζ μια γκαντική προσέγγιση. Πριν πυρπολήσουν ένα αστυνομικό όχημα, για παράδειγμα, το διαλύουν και κάθε κομμάτι χρησιμεύει κάπου. Ισιώνουν το τιμόνι και το χρησιμοποιούν σαν κάννη σε αυτοσχέδιο όπλο, αφαιρούν την ταπετσαρία και κάνουν σακίδια για πυρομαχικά, την μπαταρία την φορτίζουν στον ήλιο. Οι νέες οδηγίες από την ανώτερη διοίκηση είναι ότι όσα οχήματα καταλαμβάνουν θα πρέπει να θάβονται και όχι να καίγονται. Έτσι μπορεί να τα ξεθάψουν όταν χρειαστεί."
Η Ρόι απαξιώνει τον Γκάντι. Ο Γκάντι έχει συμβάλλει με την φιλοσοφία του στην υποτέλεια και τη δουλοπρέπεια των χωρικών. Εδώ στην Ευρώπη έχουμε μπροστά τα τσιτάτα του, των οποίων η, ας πούμε, εφαρμογή, ΕΙΧΕ ΑΛΛΗ ΧΡΗΣΗ. Συμφωνώ. Άλλωστε ακόμα και ο σκληρός της αποικιοκρατίας Ρειημόν Καρτιέ, στην "Σύγχρονη Μεταπολεμική Παγκόσμια Ιστορία", παραδέχεται πως αν δεν ήταν ο Νεχρού ουσιαστικά, αλλά ο Γκάντι, οι ινδοί θα ήταν ακόμα Αγγλία. Σχηματικά αν το πάρουμε, έτσι είναι.
March 29, 2023
"Across the Indravati river, in the area controlled by the Maoists, is the place the police call 'Pakistan'. There the villages are empty, but the forest is full of people." (6)
Edition Read - Penguin Books India, 2011.
Edition Read - Penguin Books India, 2011.
February 18, 2017
One can never stop gushing about the wonderful Arundhati Roy. Thorn in the side of the Indian government-corporate nexus, a humane voice amidst the apathetic media and so called 'intellectuals' , she write firmly from the side of the powerless.
This piece of writing is an example of journalism that has not sold it's soul to the devil. A clear and extremely informative account of the lives of a group of Maoists of Central India, people regarded as infestations by the State and surely by majority of the citizens because we have been swallowing the lies, forming opinions based on them and not bothering to educate ourselves because it's all to easy to dismiss people who are fighting any kind of injustice as 'senselessly violent' in the comfort of our homes, and leave it at that.
Roy's book shakes us out of of our apathy and presents a lucid account about who the Maoists actually are, what motivate them and why have they taken the path of violent resistance.
I didn't know much about Roy or the Maoists but I recall quite an uproar about her being a Naxal lover, a traitor, a threat to the nation etc a few years back. There was quite a lot of hate speech about her. Now, after being aware of her politics it's easy to say why she's hated so much by certain sections. Their hatred reveals more about them than about her.
This book can be seen as a kind of an exposé, a chance for all of us to understand a section of society that few have tried to explain while maintaining a clear head.
I found the Maoists a distinctly more honourable group of people than those who want to exterminate them. Its time the Indian government figured out that it can never expect to wipe off the Maoists with its brute force. They have developed a thick shell and are willing to fight and fight dirty( though not as dirty as the government, the Maoists have a code of conduct while the same cannot be said about the State). I cannot say that it's bad news that someone is giving this unjust establishment a really really hard time and it's even better that it is by those it has been oppressing for ages.
This piece of writing is an example of journalism that has not sold it's soul to the devil. A clear and extremely informative account of the lives of a group of Maoists of Central India, people regarded as infestations by the State and surely by majority of the citizens because we have been swallowing the lies, forming opinions based on them and not bothering to educate ourselves because it's all to easy to dismiss people who are fighting any kind of injustice as 'senselessly violent' in the comfort of our homes, and leave it at that.
Roy's book shakes us out of of our apathy and presents a lucid account about who the Maoists actually are, what motivate them and why have they taken the path of violent resistance.
I didn't know much about Roy or the Maoists but I recall quite an uproar about her being a Naxal lover, a traitor, a threat to the nation etc a few years back. There was quite a lot of hate speech about her. Now, after being aware of her politics it's easy to say why she's hated so much by certain sections. Their hatred reveals more about them than about her.
This book can be seen as a kind of an exposé, a chance for all of us to understand a section of society that few have tried to explain while maintaining a clear head.
I found the Maoists a distinctly more honourable group of people than those who want to exterminate them. Its time the Indian government figured out that it can never expect to wipe off the Maoists with its brute force. They have developed a thick shell and are willing to fight and fight dirty( though not as dirty as the government, the Maoists have a code of conduct while the same cannot be said about the State). I cannot say that it's bad news that someone is giving this unjust establishment a really really hard time and it's even better that it is by those it has been oppressing for ages.
November 7, 2017
In the tradition of witness journalism, Roy draws on a moral humanist framework that is as much about the reader she imagines as the fellow-travelers she accompanied through the jungle. This leads to cutting insights. How can the state possibly distinguish between a Maoist insurgent and a non-Maoist when tribal resistance is seen as a threat to the national project under global capital? Roay keenly traces the region's long history of anti-colonial struggle pre-dating Mao but also drawing on Maoism for an analysis of strategy and the current conjuncture. And yet while the lyricism and poetic imagery Roy employs make for a deeply affecting read, even in the attention to sounds, smells, and sensation, we learn very little about the actual organization of these figures who move in the darkness. They are all too often rendered almost like magical forces, primal, and elemental despite the precise descriptions of real faces and the stories they tell Roy. I can't help but wonder, is there a kind of solidarity that leaves no scars?
December 17, 2012
This is journalism. Not your hyped-up, corporate-pandering, jingoistic prostitution that rules the airwaves and "civilized" discourse. This article reminds you of what journalism used to be ; lifting the rock of complacency to peer at the dirt underneath.
Pseudo-liberal, upper-middle-class fools who guard their ivory towers by painting Ms.Roy with the same brush, and thus accuse her of being a hypocrite, have no such excuse this time. The author traveled to the jungles where the Naxals are waging their war against the Indian state from, and lived with them for 3 weeks. Her obvious sympathies for the cause are made apparent, but she is not wholly uncritical.
This is a must-read. Kudos to Arundhati Roy for having the balls to expose the giant elephant in the room.
Pseudo-liberal, upper-middle-class fools who guard their ivory towers by painting Ms.Roy with the same brush, and thus accuse her of being a hypocrite, have no such excuse this time. The author traveled to the jungles where the Naxals are waging their war against the Indian state from, and lived with them for 3 weeks. Her obvious sympathies for the cause are made apparent, but she is not wholly uncritical.
This is a must-read. Kudos to Arundhati Roy for having the balls to expose the giant elephant in the room.
April 5, 2024
Title: Walking With The Comrades by Arundhati Roy
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Review:
"Walking With The Comrades" by Arundhati Roy is a powerful and provocative exploration of the Naxalite insurgency in India, offering a firsthand account of Roy's experiences living among Maoist guerrilla fighters in the forests of central India. Through vivid prose and intimate storytelling, Roy shines a light on the complexities of the conflict and challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the state of democracy and social justice in India.
Immersive Narrative:
One of the strengths of "Walking With The Comrades" is its immersive narrative style. Roy's prose is lyrical and evocative, transporting readers into the heart of the jungle as she recounts her experiences living with the guerrilla fighters. From the lush landscapes to the sounds and smells of the forest, Roy captures the essence of life in the Naxalite strongholds with vivid detail, allowing readers to see the world through her eyes.
Critical Analysis:
In addition to its immersive storytelling, "Walking With The Comrades" offers a critical analysis of the Naxalite insurgency and its underlying causes. Roy explores issues of land rights, economic inequality, and state violence, shedding light on the grievances that drive marginalized communities to take up arms against the government. By giving voice to the perspectives of the guerrilla fighters, Roy challenges readers to question their assumptions about who the "comrades" are and what they stand for.
Comparative Analysis:
In comparison to its contemporaries in the genre of political journalism and social commentary, such as "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by Arundhati Roy herself and "Capital: Volume I" by Karl Marx, "Walking With The Comrades" stands out for its blend of personal narrative and political analysis. While Roy's novel offers a more intimate and subjective perspective on the Naxalite insurgency, Marx's work provides a broader theoretical framework for understanding the dynamics of capitalism and class struggle. Together, these works offer complementary insights into the complexities of social justice and revolution in contemporary India.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, "Walking With The Comrades" by Arundhati Roy is a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of the Naxalite insurgency in India. Through her immersive narrative and critical analysis, Roy sheds light on the realities of life in the guerrilla strongholds and challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and resistance. Whether you're interested in Indian politics, social justice, or simply looking for a gripping non-fiction read, "Walking With The Comrades" is sure to leave a lasting impression.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Review:
"Walking With The Comrades" by Arundhati Roy is a powerful and provocative exploration of the Naxalite insurgency in India, offering a firsthand account of Roy's experiences living among Maoist guerrilla fighters in the forests of central India. Through vivid prose and intimate storytelling, Roy shines a light on the complexities of the conflict and challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the state of democracy and social justice in India.
Immersive Narrative:
One of the strengths of "Walking With The Comrades" is its immersive narrative style. Roy's prose is lyrical and evocative, transporting readers into the heart of the jungle as she recounts her experiences living with the guerrilla fighters. From the lush landscapes to the sounds and smells of the forest, Roy captures the essence of life in the Naxalite strongholds with vivid detail, allowing readers to see the world through her eyes.
Critical Analysis:
In addition to its immersive storytelling, "Walking With The Comrades" offers a critical analysis of the Naxalite insurgency and its underlying causes. Roy explores issues of land rights, economic inequality, and state violence, shedding light on the grievances that drive marginalized communities to take up arms against the government. By giving voice to the perspectives of the guerrilla fighters, Roy challenges readers to question their assumptions about who the "comrades" are and what they stand for.
Comparative Analysis:
In comparison to its contemporaries in the genre of political journalism and social commentary, such as "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by Arundhati Roy herself and "Capital: Volume I" by Karl Marx, "Walking With The Comrades" stands out for its blend of personal narrative and political analysis. While Roy's novel offers a more intimate and subjective perspective on the Naxalite insurgency, Marx's work provides a broader theoretical framework for understanding the dynamics of capitalism and class struggle. Together, these works offer complementary insights into the complexities of social justice and revolution in contemporary India.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, "Walking With The Comrades" by Arundhati Roy is a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of the Naxalite insurgency in India. Through her immersive narrative and critical analysis, Roy sheds light on the realities of life in the guerrilla strongholds and challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and resistance. Whether you're interested in Indian politics, social justice, or simply looking for a gripping non-fiction read, "Walking With The Comrades" is sure to leave a lasting impression.
January 6, 2020
"I feel I ought to say something at this point. About the futility of violence, about the unacceptability of summary executions. But what should I suggest they do? Go to court? Do a dharna in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi? A rally? A relay hunger strike? It sounds ridiculous. The promoters of the New Economic Policy—who find it so easy to say ‘There Is No Alternative’—should be asked to suggest an alternative Resistance Policy. A specific one, to these specific people, in this specific forest. Here. Now. Which party should they vote for? Which democratic institution in this country should they approach? Which door did the Narmada Bachao Andolan not knock on during the years and years it fought against Big Dams on the Narmada? It’s dark."
Walking with 'India's biggest internal security threat' through Dandakaranya, the evergreen forests of Chattisgarh, Arundhati Roy brings out the nuances of the Naxalite movement.
Walking with 'India's biggest internal security threat' through Dandakaranya, the evergreen forests of Chattisgarh, Arundhati Roy brings out the nuances of the Naxalite movement.
July 6, 2021
learned a lot. not sure about all of roy’s analysis but very interesting
December 27, 2020
Thanks to Kaviya for recommending this book.
This is a brilliant masterpiece from a brilliant thinker.
It gives a brief, first-hand overview of what's happening in "Maoist-infested" regions of India, in three wonderful essays, the first two of which were extremely depressing. Had to take a lot of breaks just to finish reading the book, but it was totally worth it.
Another eye-opening read in 2020.
A few lines of what touched/ impressed me:
1) Gandhian satyagraha, for example, is a kind of political theatre. In order for it to be effective, it needs a sympathetic audience, which villagers deep in the forest do not have. When a posse of 800 policemen lay a cordon around a forest village at night and begin to burn houses and shoot people, will a hunger strike help? (Can starving people go on a hunger strike? And do hunger strikes work when they’re not on TV?)
2)it is necessary to concede some physical space for the survival of those who may look like the keepers of our past but who may really be the guides to our future
3) Can you leave the water in the rivers, the trees in the forest? Can you leave the bauxite in the mountain?
4) The Press Trust of India put out several untruthful stories, faithfully showcased by the Indian Express , including one about Maoists mutilating the bodies of policemen they had killed. 28 (The denial, which came from the police themselves, was published postage-stamp size, hidden in the middle pages.)
5) The only kind of land redistribution that seems to be on the cards is the land being grabbed from the poor and redistributed to the rich for their land banks, which go under the name of special economic zones.
6) My fellow citizens, we are building a new India in which our 100 richest people hold assets worth one fourth of our GDP
7) Nahi bhai, humney gai ko hathode say nahin mara” [No, brother, we did not kill cows with hammers]. In 2007 the Raman Singh government announced a Gai Yojana [cow scheme], an election promise, a cow for every adivasi. One day the TV channels and newspapers reported that Naxalites had attacked a herd of cows and bludgeoned them to death—with hammers—because they were anti-Hindu, anti-BJP. You can imagine what happened. We issued a denial. Hardly anybody carried it. Later it turned out that the man who had been given the cows to distribute was a rogue. He sold them and said we had ambushed him and killed the cows.’
8) Women are controlled in every way,’ she told me. ‘In our village girls were not allowed to climb trees; if they did, they would have to pay a fine of 500 or a hen. If a man hits a woman and she hits him back she has to give the village a goat. Men go off to the hills for months together to hunt. Women are not allowed to go near the kill, the best part of the meat goes to men. Women are not allowed to eat eggs.’
9) On 12 October 2009 the mandatory public hearing for Tata’s steel plant, meant to be held in Lohandiguda where local people could come, actually took place in a small hall inside the Collectorate in Jagdalpur, many miles away, cordoned off with massive security. A hired audience of fifty tribals was brought in a guarded convoy of government jeeps. After the meeting the District Collector congratulated ‘the people of Lohandiguda’ for their cooperation. The local newspapers reported the lie, even though they knew better.
10) The Briggs Plan became very popular with the Indian Army, which has used it in Nagaland, Mizoram and in Telangana. The BJP chief minister of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh, announced that as far as his government was concerned, villagers who did not move into camps would be considered Maoists.
So in Bastar, for an ordinary villager, just staying at home, living an ordinary life, became the equivalent of indulging in dangerous terrorist activity.
11) Dandakaranya is part of what the British, in their White Man’s way, called Gondwana, land of the Gonds. Today the state boundaries of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra slice through the forest. Breaking up a troublesome people into separate administrative units is an old trick.
12) On the outskirts of Raipur, a massive billboard advertises Vedanta (the company our home minister once worked with) Cancer Hospital. In Orissa, where it is mining bauxite, Vedanta is financing a university. In these creeping, innocuous ways mining corporations enter our imaginations: the Gentle Giants Who Really Care. It’s called CSR, corporate social responsibility. It allows mining companies to be like the legendary actor and former chief minister NTR, who liked to play all at once, in the same movie.
13) In the meanwhile, will someone who’s going to the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year please ask the only question worth asking: Can we leave the bauxite in the mountain?
14) It’s not as though anyone’s offering them a choice, unless it’s to commit suicide, like the 180,000 farmers caught in a spiral of debt have done.
(Am I the only one who gets the distinct feeling that the Indian establishment and its representatives in the media are far more comfortable with the idea of poor people killing themselves in despair than with the idea of them fighting back?)
15) They are people who, even after sixty years of India’s so-called Independence, have not had access to education, health care or legal redress. They are people who have been mercilessly exploited for decades, consistently cheated by small businessmen and moneylenders, the women raped as a matter of right by police and forest department personnel. Their journey back to a semblance of dignity is due in large part to the Maoist cadre who have lived and worked and fought by their side for decades.
If the tribals have taken up arms, they have done so because a government that has given them nothing but violence and neglect now wants to snatch away the last thing they have—their land.
16) She was a Maadiya, among whom it was customary for women to remove their blouses and remain bare-breasted after they were married.
They say we cannot keep our blouses, Dada,
They make us take them off Dada, In what way have we sinned Dada, The world has changed, has it not, Dada,
But when we go to market Dada, We have to go half-naked Dada, We don’t want this life Dada, Tell our ancestors this Dada.
This is a brilliant masterpiece from a brilliant thinker.
It gives a brief, first-hand overview of what's happening in "Maoist-infested" regions of India, in three wonderful essays, the first two of which were extremely depressing. Had to take a lot of breaks just to finish reading the book, but it was totally worth it.
Another eye-opening read in 2020.
A few lines of what touched/ impressed me:
1) Gandhian satyagraha, for example, is a kind of political theatre. In order for it to be effective, it needs a sympathetic audience, which villagers deep in the forest do not have. When a posse of 800 policemen lay a cordon around a forest village at night and begin to burn houses and shoot people, will a hunger strike help? (Can starving people go on a hunger strike? And do hunger strikes work when they’re not on TV?)
2)it is necessary to concede some physical space for the survival of those who may look like the keepers of our past but who may really be the guides to our future
3) Can you leave the water in the rivers, the trees in the forest? Can you leave the bauxite in the mountain?
4) The Press Trust of India put out several untruthful stories, faithfully showcased by the Indian Express , including one about Maoists mutilating the bodies of policemen they had killed. 28 (The denial, which came from the police themselves, was published postage-stamp size, hidden in the middle pages.)
5) The only kind of land redistribution that seems to be on the cards is the land being grabbed from the poor and redistributed to the rich for their land banks, which go under the name of special economic zones.
6) My fellow citizens, we are building a new India in which our 100 richest people hold assets worth one fourth of our GDP
7) Nahi bhai, humney gai ko hathode say nahin mara” [No, brother, we did not kill cows with hammers]. In 2007 the Raman Singh government announced a Gai Yojana [cow scheme], an election promise, a cow for every adivasi. One day the TV channels and newspapers reported that Naxalites had attacked a herd of cows and bludgeoned them to death—with hammers—because they were anti-Hindu, anti-BJP. You can imagine what happened. We issued a denial. Hardly anybody carried it. Later it turned out that the man who had been given the cows to distribute was a rogue. He sold them and said we had ambushed him and killed the cows.’
8) Women are controlled in every way,’ she told me. ‘In our village girls were not allowed to climb trees; if they did, they would have to pay a fine of 500 or a hen. If a man hits a woman and she hits him back she has to give the village a goat. Men go off to the hills for months together to hunt. Women are not allowed to go near the kill, the best part of the meat goes to men. Women are not allowed to eat eggs.’
9) On 12 October 2009 the mandatory public hearing for Tata’s steel plant, meant to be held in Lohandiguda where local people could come, actually took place in a small hall inside the Collectorate in Jagdalpur, many miles away, cordoned off with massive security. A hired audience of fifty tribals was brought in a guarded convoy of government jeeps. After the meeting the District Collector congratulated ‘the people of Lohandiguda’ for their cooperation. The local newspapers reported the lie, even though they knew better.
10) The Briggs Plan became very popular with the Indian Army, which has used it in Nagaland, Mizoram and in Telangana. The BJP chief minister of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh, announced that as far as his government was concerned, villagers who did not move into camps would be considered Maoists.
So in Bastar, for an ordinary villager, just staying at home, living an ordinary life, became the equivalent of indulging in dangerous terrorist activity.
11) Dandakaranya is part of what the British, in their White Man’s way, called Gondwana, land of the Gonds. Today the state boundaries of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra slice through the forest. Breaking up a troublesome people into separate administrative units is an old trick.
12) On the outskirts of Raipur, a massive billboard advertises Vedanta (the company our home minister once worked with) Cancer Hospital. In Orissa, where it is mining bauxite, Vedanta is financing a university. In these creeping, innocuous ways mining corporations enter our imaginations: the Gentle Giants Who Really Care. It’s called CSR, corporate social responsibility. It allows mining companies to be like the legendary actor and former chief minister NTR, who liked to play all at once, in the same movie.
13) In the meanwhile, will someone who’s going to the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year please ask the only question worth asking: Can we leave the bauxite in the mountain?
14) It’s not as though anyone’s offering them a choice, unless it’s to commit suicide, like the 180,000 farmers caught in a spiral of debt have done.
(Am I the only one who gets the distinct feeling that the Indian establishment and its representatives in the media are far more comfortable with the idea of poor people killing themselves in despair than with the idea of them fighting back?)
15) They are people who, even after sixty years of India’s so-called Independence, have not had access to education, health care or legal redress. They are people who have been mercilessly exploited for decades, consistently cheated by small businessmen and moneylenders, the women raped as a matter of right by police and forest department personnel. Their journey back to a semblance of dignity is due in large part to the Maoist cadre who have lived and worked and fought by their side for decades.
If the tribals have taken up arms, they have done so because a government that has given them nothing but violence and neglect now wants to snatch away the last thing they have—their land.
16) She was a Maadiya, among whom it was customary for women to remove their blouses and remain bare-breasted after they were married.
They say we cannot keep our blouses, Dada,
They make us take them off Dada, In what way have we sinned Dada, The world has changed, has it not, Dada,
But when we go to market Dada, We have to go half-naked Dada, We don’t want this life Dada, Tell our ancestors this Dada.
December 8, 2020
First and foremost I deeply appreciate the boldness and piercing analysis of the author. she described the fact, though sometimes sarcastically about our people, government, policies and politics. How rulers of the nation(no matter who or which party)bound to comply with corporates for their money to spend at election times.. but why? to get people's support to work against some people who oppose them reluctantly for their basic needs,.. I wonder how politicians or whoever involved in these kind of unhuman activities can donate some of their "hardly earned "money to the needy people. It's very Irony. this book briefly touched the social calamities and strongly insists that we need a new vision to taste and smell the air of Independence. Should we concede to learn from the tribal who knows sustainable living. If we lose them by any name of nation's development system, we are moving towards self-destruction of the nation itself.
Must read book but after read the book am not sure how many of us would share our heartfelt wishes on Independence day.
Must read book but after read the book am not sure how many of us would share our heartfelt wishes on Independence day.
December 22, 2020
Some books are read only after they are objected to, or banned. This is one such. Well written, keeping to facts, and balanced too. The closing chapter speaks out the best way to move forward.
The day capitalism is forced to tolerate non-capitalist societies in its midst and to acknowledge limits in its quest for domination, the day it is forced to recognize that its supply of raw material will not be endless, is the day when change will come. If there is any hope for the world at all, it does not live in climate-change conference rooms or in cities with tall buildings. It lives low down on the ground, with its arms around the people who go to battle every day to protect their forests, their mountains and their rivers because they know that the forests, the mountains and the rivers protect them.
A very satisfying read, brilliantly written.
The day capitalism is forced to tolerate non-capitalist societies in its midst and to acknowledge limits in its quest for domination, the day it is forced to recognize that its supply of raw material will not be endless, is the day when change will come. If there is any hope for the world at all, it does not live in climate-change conference rooms or in cities with tall buildings. It lives low down on the ground, with its arms around the people who go to battle every day to protect their forests, their mountains and their rivers because they know that the forests, the mountains and the rivers protect them.
A very satisfying read, brilliantly written.
September 17, 2020
I loved this book! I reread it to be horrified, refreshed and invigorated by social/environmental justice all at once.
An emotive, yet well researched description and analysis of Indigenous and Maoist resistance to government landgrabbing/invasion. Roy spends a lot of time discussing the political dimensions of armed struggle in an increasingly globalised and capitalist India. She also discusses the politics of India's path towards economic development more generally, trying to amplify the voice of those most sidelined by government policy
This book is incredibly insightful and refreshing for those interested in grassroots political struggle, yet never comes close to preaching obscure ideology or to losing its heart!
An emotive, yet well researched description and analysis of Indigenous and Maoist resistance to government landgrabbing/invasion. Roy spends a lot of time discussing the political dimensions of armed struggle in an increasingly globalised and capitalist India. She also discusses the politics of India's path towards economic development more generally, trying to amplify the voice of those most sidelined by government policy
This book is incredibly insightful and refreshing for those interested in grassroots political struggle, yet never comes close to preaching obscure ideology or to losing its heart!
May 17, 2016
Definitely not the best account of the current Maoist movement in central India and the adivasi rebellion but probably the most eloquent. Doesn't pretend to be anything but a sympathetic account in favour of the adivasis (and why not) most likely underplays some of the negative sides of the Naxalites and their tactics as well as ideology, though this is raised towards the end of the book. Much of Roy's anger and acerbic wit id directed towards the Indian state and its unholy alliance with mining corporations; that has so devastated large tracts of rural and forested India, without delivering much by way of benefits to the local inhabitants.
December 21, 2020
Must read for all Indians
This is a radical and compelling book and I found this book was a very disturbing read for me. Prior to reading this my inferences about the Maoist movement was sadly inadequate and I'm glad that I finally got educated.
Roy makes scathing arguments and made me question the accepted ideas for progress and development. Towards the end she make a case for Sustainable living and Social justice and that's maybe the lesson learnt from this book.
This is a radical and compelling book and I found this book was a very disturbing read for me. Prior to reading this my inferences about the Maoist movement was sadly inadequate and I'm glad that I finally got educated.
Roy makes scathing arguments and made me question the accepted ideas for progress and development. Towards the end she make a case for Sustainable living and Social justice and that's maybe the lesson learnt from this book.
November 13, 2020
A journey into the tribal revolutions
Book reveals the activists with the surrounding business and politics with the impact on the local lives.
Arundhati Roy has her unique style to convey the subject she deals.
Book reveals the activists with the surrounding business and politics with the impact on the local lives.
Arundhati Roy has her unique style to convey the subject she deals.
April 11, 2013
story about the comrades and their routine live in the jungle evovlved with fear, hunger and grieve. Amazingly reported by arundhati.R
May 25, 2023
Incredibly powerful, yet very compact.
Must-read.
Must-read.
July 7, 2025
So, while for the adivasis the mountain is still a living deity, the fountainhead of life and faith, the keystone of the ecological health of the region, for the corporation, it's just a cheap storage facility.One bright and early full reading day, I got up and decided that it was unacceptable that I hadn't touched a book of Arundhati Roy's since 2019. Luckily, I had this one unread in my possession, so I sidled up cavalierly, one eye on the title's promise and the other on the textual fulfillment. Until then, I don't think I had a clear understanding of the Naxalite as autonomous subject or media object, and while Roy is hardly an objective source for such, I can at least trust her efforts to draw from a wide range of sources, especially primary source interviews, when fleshing out her politics. As for this book, it's a familiar story told in the most populous country in the world that once bandied around the phrase 'the largest experiment in democracy', which still tracks if you consider the USA your primary role model. Religious fundamentalism, noblesse oblige/trickledown economics, and a lust to seize the rapacity of Euro/Neo-Euro's colonial Industrial Age for one's national selves, while those who do not believe the Earth will never buck its human species rider off always watch and sometimes protest.
Everybody had graduated long ago from equating the structural violence of the state with the violence of the armed resistance.
'Whenever they take someone away,' Sukdai says, 'you have to go immediately and snatch them back. Before they write any report. Once they write in their book, it becomes very difficult.'Optics is the watchword at play here, and much as local protest movements of mine interpret that in terms of media viability rather than individual privacy, here we have the liberals and the Maoists. It would've been a lesser book had Roy stuck with the descriptives, so I was more than gratified when she truly walked her talk into the thicket of machine guns accustomed to biting the police state that feeds until it bleeds. It doesn't make nice with suburban justice, and I'm the last person to tell you as a white denizen of a kyriarchical juggernaut just what judgments Roy should have passed in her testimonies and critiques. I will say, though, that the metaphors of the English language will ride you raw if you don't double back at every corner, and Roy's casual evocation of Africa/sub Saharan as metaphor for the abject/landing pad for India to take off from took the edge off her efforts to give the anathema of "polite" "civilization" a place at the dinner table. Still, she gives enough raw material, historical context, and (some) benefit of the doubt for a reader to draw their own conclusions, and lord does she as usual have a lovely way of putting it all.
[W]ould nuclear weapons be a 'basic need' in a Maoist nation state?
"Do you know what to do if we come under fire?' Sukhdev asks casually, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.If Penguin Books saw this publication as another opportunity to throw a rope for the ungrateful global South to hang itself upon, all I can say that, in this time when white civilization is convulsively turning upon itself as the old racial solidarity turns nationalistically feudal, who knows how many boots are been distractedly removed from how many necks in the process. Not quite the resounding roar of nature during the Covid standstill, but it does make one think about what could happen when the Powers that Be are too busy disemboweling themselves to worry about the bauxite that refuses to come out of the mountain.
'Yes," I said, "immediately declare an indefinite hunger strike.'
He sat down on a rock and laughed.
People who once dreamed of justice and equality, and dared to demand land to the tiller, have been reduced to asking for an apology from the police for being beaten and maimed. Is this progress?
The government is quite wrong if it thinks that by carrying out 'targeted assassinations' to render the CPI (Maoist) 'headless' it will end the violence. On the contrary, the violence will spread and intensify, and the government will have nobody to talk to.
November 29, 2022
"Ketika sebuah negara yang mengklaim dirinya menganut demokrasi secara terang-terangan justru mendeklarasikan perang kepada rakyatnya sendiri, maka akan seperti apa bentuk perang yang akan terjadi? Apakah setiap upaya perlawanan akan tetap memiliki kesempatan? Apakah perlawanan memang harus dilakukan? Siapakah para Maois? ..." (hlm. 8)
Sebetulnya, buku ini tidak lebih dari 150 halaman. Namun, butuh banyak penyesuaian selama baca yang membuat pembacaannya jadi tersendat-sendat. Terutama soal nama lokasi/daerah, nama gerakan/kelompok, serta tentu nama para kamerad yang ditampilkan di sini. Mungkin, saya cuma menangkap sebagiannya saja.
Buku ini merupakan catatan perjalanan penulis yang tinggal selama beberapa waktu bersama kaum Maois di India. Kaum tersebut memiliki paham "berbeda" (teman-teman bisa cari tahu sendiri dengan mengetik kata kunci "maoisme" di mesin pencarian) dari apa yang dianut oleh negara sehingga sudah barang tentu harus dibasmi. Di Wikipedia, partai kaum ini malah disebut-sebut didirikan "untuk menggulingkan pemerintahan India melalui cara-cara kekerasan".
Namun, apa yang disampaikan di buku ini berbanding terbalik dengan apa yang tertulis di Wikipedia atau media mana pun terutama di India tentang kaum Maois dan para kameradnya. Roy coba mengulik sisi humanis nan tragis dari para kamerad. Betapa banyak ketimpangan, kebohongan, kebencian yang dikoar-koarkan atas mereka. Padahal, yang saya pahami dari buku ini, mereka hanya ingin mempertahankan apa yang sudah mereka miliki meski melalui paham "berbeda" itu.
Sedikit gambaran, pemerintah (dan para pemilik modal) mengetahui sumber daya alam yang kaya di kawasan India bagian tengah, salah satunya bauksit. Namun, kawasan tersebut sudah ditempati sejak lama oleh masyarakat suku (yang entah bagaimana mungkin menjadi kaum Maois). Tentu mereka ingin mempertahankan wilayah tempat tinggalnya. Konflik pun terjadi yang mengakibatkan banyak nyawa hilang. Konon konflik ini juga pecah gara-gara Operation Green Hunt.
Tidak banyak yang bisa saya sampaikan lebih jauh tentang buku ini. Jabaran di paragraf sebelum ini mungkin juga keliru. Masih butuh literatur/bacaan lain untuk lebih memahami apa yang sebenarnya terjadi di India bagian tengah.
Pemerintah India begitu mengecam mati-matian kaum Maois, membuat mereka seolah-olah musuh yang harus dijauhi/dilawan/dihentikan. Sisi pemerintah dan balad-baladnya ini begitu anti pada kaum Maois, bahkan mendeklarasikan perang kaum Maois. Untunglah, Roy melakukan perjalanan sehingga membuahkan buku ini. Bahan bacaan penting yang menjadi pemberi informasi dan wawasan dari sisi yang lain yang jarang (atau bahkan tidak pernah) dikuak/diceritakan.
Sebagai karya terjemahan, buku ini patut untuk dicoba. Walaupun memang, masih ada beberapa bagian yang bikin dahi berkerut dan bikin berulang kali baca agar paham.
Akhir kata, ingatlah bahwa selalu ada dua sisi dalam setiap cerita.
"... Puluhan ribu orang terbunuh dengan impunitas. Ratusan ribu lainnya disiksa kejam." (hlm. 102 - 103)
Oh, saya jadi teringat novel Tahun Penuh Gulma yang saya baca tahun lalu. Kisahnya berlatar konflik yang sama. Serunya, kisah fiksi ini ditokohi oleh dua remaja bau kencur. Bagi teman-teman yang juga tertarik pada konflik kaum Maois, novel karya Siddhartha Sarma ini mestilah ditengok.
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