Power Politics

by Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy —"India’s most impassioned critic of globalization" ( New York Times )—has expanded the compelling first edition of Power Politics with two new essays on the U.S. war on terrorism. A Book Sense 76 choice for November/December 2001 and Los Angeles Times "Discoveries" selection, Power Politics challenges the idea that only experts can speak out on such urgent matters as nuclear war, the privatization of India’s power supply by U.S.-based energy companies, and the construction of monumental dams in India. Arundhati Roy , the internationally acclaimed author of The God of Small Things , brings her keen novelist’s eye to her analysis of the tragic events of September 11 and the military response, starting with the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, India, Essays, History, Indian Literature, Political Science

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

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

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

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good or great writer may refuse to accept any responsibility or morality that society wishes to impose on her. Yet the best and greatest of them know that if they abuse this hard-won freedom, it can only lead to bad art.

If what we have to say doesn't "sell," will we still say it?

Roy has a way with words that I'm likely never going to be capable of resisting. Couple that with commentary that cuts through some of the foggiest shores of propaganda that I swallowed whole in the tender years of elementary school and you get a read that will always be vital. Roy doesn't offer me anything particularly revelational, but the amount of concrete citation she provides for judgments that I've been making since I officially left undergrad is borderline invaluable. I don't always agree with her metaphors (the sooner she stops looking to psychiatric institutions to supply herself with evocations of sadism and plain old bad faith, the better), but nearly twenty years have gone by since my memories of mixing up Afghanistan and Taliban on dinner time TV (god, I feel old), and fascism has only thrown down more roots. I have to tell students so filled with hatred for their origins that they want to change their name how much a part their beloved US plays in the loathsome quantities of their inherited India. You know something is obscenely wrong when a white person like me is called upon to do such work.

Is globalization about "eradication of world poverty," or is it a mutant variety of colonialism, remote controlled and digitally operated?

"Creating a good investment climate" is the new euphemism for third world repression.

This collection is composed of five essays of various degrees of power, leastwise to my estimation. "The Algebra of Infinite Justice" was the most relevant to my own sphere of influence, so I'm likely to remember it the most. I also found much worth "The Ladies Have Feelings, So...", but that was also due to the fact of it being the first of the collection, and so many of the witty repartees I made note of existed in their first iteration here. All cover issues that should be the ones taught in high school amidst engineering-brainwashing STEM and the pathetic pseudoscience cult of the rich that is economics, as it has been manipulated into since slavery was (officially, save for specially crafted circumstances) outlawed and the Internet was invented. Time has passed since Roy's words were published, but if I live to seem them rendered irrelevant, I don't know whether to hope for such an outcome or pray that it doesn't get any worse. All citizens of the world are not created equal, and the most powerful country in the world defends to the point of genocide the ability of its rich to cannibalize the poor through the tried and true method of divide and conquer.

Terrorism is the symptom, not the disease.

The US House Speaker has officially started impeachment proceedings against Trump, and I'm wondering whether this will fizzle out into self-obliging putz like everything else that has come since 2016. I have enough going on my life these days that I don't obsess over it all nearly as much as I used to, so Roy giving me a good kick in the rear can be taken in a far more considering way than my younger self would have had the patience for. I still don't apply the these lessons of hers as practically as I would like to in my day to day existence, but I'm on the way to doing so in the next five years, if not by the end of next summer. Then again, by then we may all die in the fire next time, so we'll just have to see.

President Bush's ultimatum to the people of the world—"Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists"—is a piece of presumptuous arrogance.
It's not a choice that people want to, need to, or should have to make.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think Arundhati Roy would like what Goodreads is doing.



I read this with some trepidation, after hearing some friends talk about Roy's political views. I actually found the essays about the dams in Inida to be the most interesting, mostly because of the relation to China. I also enjoyed the comments on writing.I do wish, however, some of the ideas had been a little clearer. She's aganist globization which is fine, but than suggests that the UN Commission Dams should have a say - isn't that globization too? (Also, I refuse to believe that misgyny was a western important to India. Though I found the comments about education to be otherwise sadly true).The 9/11 essays were written shortly after 9/11 and, for the most part, are true in reporting facts. Didn't like the hint at the conspricy theory though and there was that pesky generalization thing again (and the UN thing).Still thought provoking.

[The Conspiracy is Capitalism · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my journey through Roy’s nonfiction, India’s jobless growth now meets the era of the War On Terror (2nd Edition: articles from 2000-2001).

Highlights:
--“Power Politics: The Reincarnation of Rumpelstiltskin” is a continuation of Roy’s earlier critiques on India’s jobless growth (The Cost of Living) that later culminates in Capitalism: A Ghost Story. The focus here is on market and energy privatization:
a) “Market value”? But the poor value these resources the most while only the rich can afford. “Free market”? But privatization is monopolized transfers of monopolistic sectors (utilities, natural resource extraction).
b) “Power theft” being dominated by industry rather than the poor.
c) “Export Credit Guarantees” further hiding responsibility of multinational capital, while socializing costs onto taxpayers.

--In "The Ladies have Feelings, so… shall we leave it to the Experts?”, Roy tears down the label of “writer-activist”, which frames the proper “writer” as somehow objective/apolitical, above the emotional need to take sides (“activist”). I am reminded of Chomsky’s The Responsibility of Intellectuals.

--“The Algebra of Infinite Justice” and “War is Peace” are the start of the War on Terror era. Roy pivots from her previous focus on the Indian elite to now consider the US empire. The goal is to provide historical context (US foreign policy terror, Mujahideen “freedom fighters”, etc.) to the bewildered Western mainstream bubble. Having read many accounts by mostly academics, it is interesting experiencing what an artistic writer can bring to this.
--Keep in mind, Western mainstream culture pervades much of global media, entertainment, and education. Consider Vijay Prashad on ideological censorship: https://youtu.be/6jKcsHv3c74
-Chomsky's Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
--For more on US foreign policy:
-Vijay's Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations
-The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
-The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump
-Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

“The only thing worth globalising is dissent.”

“The International Coalition Against Terror is largely a cabal of the richest countries in the world. Between them, they manufacture and sell almost all of the world’s weapons. They possess the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction-chemical, biological, and nuclear. They have fought the most wars, account for most of the genocide, subjection, ethnic cleansing, and human rights violations in modern history, and have sponsored, armed, and financed untold numbers of dictators and despots. Between them, they have worshipped, almost deified, the cult of violence and war. For all its appalling sins, the Taliban just isn’t in the same league.”

This short collection is worth reading for “The Algebra of Infinite Justice” alone, which is a superb essay. It is a damning, eloquent and (unlike those American bombs), an incredibly accurate attack on the arrogance, ignorance, self-delusion, greed and violence that makes up the mindset of the United States of America.

“To be a writer-a supposedly “famous” writer-in a country where three hundred million people are illiterate is a dubious honour. To be a writer in a country that gave the world Mahatma Gandhi, that invented the concept of nonviolent resistance, and then, half a century later, followed that up with nuclear tests is a ferocious burden.”

As ever Roy makes so many great points, she is like an angrier, more forthright version of Naomi Klein. This is one of those books that you could quote til the cows come home, “For a century involved in so much warfare and conflict, the American people have been extremely fortunate.” And the description of the US’s “Chilling disregard for non-American lives, its barbarous military interventions, its support for despotic and dictatorial regimes, its merciless economic agenda.”

But of course Roy doesn’t just get stuck into the Americans, she has even more to say about her native country of India and the shameless corporate greed and corruption which is and has been devastating the lives of hundreds of millions of people there for decades now. At one point she describes it as “A process of barbaric dispossession on a scale that has few parallels in history.” Fairly strong words and not misleading ones either. She later adds, “‘Creating a good investment climate’ is the new euphemism for third world repression.”

This is another fine outing from Roy, and another rousing piece of journalistic craft which makes for excellent reading. She remains one of the most articulate and significant political writers working in the world today and I recommend this highly.

“At the end of the day, how many people can you spy on, how many bank accounts can you freeze, how many conversations can you eavesdrop on, how many emails can you intercept, how many letters can you open, how many phones can you tap?”

[Genine Franklin-Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. These essays should be must reading for all Americans. They will, or should, pull you out of any narrow America-is-the-Center-of-the-Universe mindset you may have.

I've had, and will continue to have, disagreements with friends who believe that an American life is worth more than the life of anyone else. Where does that come from? How blind do you have to be not to see that America, too, has clay feet? That we aren't perfect? That we've done terrible things, and are continuing to do terrible things?

I'm glad I'm an American. Doesn't being an American, such a fortunate person, require the effort to make this country better, not to beat our breasts and scream "We're the best?"!

Or have we really become that place where Might makes Right? Please, no.

[Gayatri Anguloori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone I know who shares different politics from me, found my copy of this book and mentioned, “Why are you reading a book by Arundathi Roy? She will corrupt your mind. Alas, it is good to expose yourself to different perspectives.” Although, I found their first sentiment quite ironic, I respected the eventual open-mindedness of this person.

Similarly, Power Politics is a book that demands its reader to open their mind to the neoliberal structures that dictate 21st century politics and operate in the background of what is being shared to us by our news cycles and governments. Roy wrote this book around 20 years ago and I really enjoyed reading her thoughts, in retrospect, about post 9/11 America and it’s implications for our global society, Indian privatization/ globalization of infrastructure, and the role of creatives in social commentary. I find that Roy’s analyses still stand as appropriate criticisms of Western corporate interests in India, the “War on Terror”, and freedom of speech in politics and government scrutiny.

As an Indian-American, I have been keen on reading more Indian-authored books about the socio-economic and political climate in India today. Roy is passionate, razor sharp with her remarks, and unapologetically analytical—unafraid to bring to the forefront the ugly truths of geo-politics and capitalist greed. I can say that I am grateful to have found this book on the 10 dollar rack of my local secondhand bookstore. I look forward to reading more texts by Arundathi Roy.

[danah · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There is an intricate web of morality, rigor, and responsibility that art, that writing itself, imposes on a writer. It's singular, but nevertheless it's there. At its best, it's an exquisite bond between the artist and the medium. At its acceptable end, it's a sort of sensible co-operation. At its worst, it's a relationship of disrespect and exploitation."

"Isn't it true, or at least theoretically possible that there are times in the life of a people or a nation when the political climate demands that we - even the most sophisticated of us - overtly take sides? I believe that such times are upon us. And I believe that in the coming years intellectuals and artists in India will be called upon to take sides.
And this time, unlike the struggle for Independence, we won't have the luxury of fighting a colonizing "enemy." We'll be fighting ourselves."

"Is globalization about "eradication of world poverty", or is it a mutant colonialism, remote controlled and digitally operated?"

"...you'll find that a lot of dubious politics lurks inside the stables of 'expertise'."


"I'd say the only thing worth globalizing is dissent. It's India's best export."

"The American people may be a little fuzzy on where exactly Afghanistan is, but the U.S. government and Afghanistan are old friends."
"can you destroy destruction?"

[LindaJ^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are five thought-provoking essays in the second edition of this small book by Man Booker winner Arundhati Roy.

The first two concern the mega dams built, being built, or scheduled to be built in India. Roy provides some devastating facts concerning the impact on rural India and its population of minorities, in which Western corporations are complicit. I was not aware of the mega dams, let alone their impact on tens of thousands of Indians. They are eye-opening. These two essays take of 2/3's of the book.

The other three essays are related to 9/11 and the "war on terror." The US government does not come off well in these. Unfortunately, I think she is right in much of what she says.

The book was published in 2001 but it does not feel out-of-date, especially given the continued presence of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Allison Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

India has undergone many dam projects as have many other developing countries. Foreign investment, flood control, irrigation canals, and energy production are the cited reasons for dam construction but critics claim that the devastation to the human population living in the flood zones and the ecological damage, as well as statistics stating historical dam projects provide significantly less energy output as expected, encourage extreme resistance to dam construction.

In India, massive protests in the form of hunger strikes, and donations of book royalties from famous Indian writer Arundhati Roy* keep this debate in the news.

Book Review: "Power Politics", 2001, author Arundhati Roy, Indian female writer (also author of famous novel "The God of Small Things"
This book is a series of essays exploring water dam building and energy production in India, political response to September 11, 2001 in expectation of a U.S. war with Afghanistan, and free speech.

One essay from the book is called "The Reincarnation of Rumpelstiltskin." Roy provides statistics and arguments against the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens who lived and farmed on lands where the Indian government wanted to flood in the construction of dams. Resistance against dams, the overall ecological damage being the primary grounds of argument, is a common one in the United States; however, in most cases, a dam displaces few people.

Roy opens our eyes to the plight of thousands and thousands of people living in India, most of them already poor and with little political influence who are forced to leave their homes and try to find a new way to support themselves. I am not in a position to assure you of the accuracy of her statistics and statistics can always be manipulated, but her image of the conditions of the displaced is well worth being aware of.

Arundhati Roy
I sought out her work because an essay I was reading said that Roy believes that individuals should take responsibility for themselves and stop claiming to be a victim. Few people feel this way today as many of us are tempted to blame the government, parents, spouses, or society for our own shortcomings. "Power Politics" is her only book I’ve read so far. Further research into her work leaves me impressed at her forthrightness, clarity of purpose, and commitment to others. She has been widely criticized for her actions and has also been taken to court. In response to criticism, she said:

"I am hysterical. I'm screaming from the bloody rooftops. And he and his smug little club are going 'Shhhh... you'll wake the neighbours!' I want to wake the neighbours, that's my whole point. I want everybody to open their eyes".*****

[Jane Marga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arundhati Roy writes in a clear and biting manner that would always leave me be persuaded with the strength and brevity of her power to make you look at something you don't want to see. The power issue and the national interests of the minorities in India are what at stake when she wrote this book. It's short, maybe an essay. But this is something that calls for an urgent call for her fellow citizens to take the stance in protecting lives that are destroyed, and continuously harmed by the self-imbued interests of the politicians and the international countries who are dipping their profits in the country: the corporatization and globalization of farmlands to make and build dams. Researching about it turns out to be the biggest issue in India at the turn of the 21st century as it touches also on environmental concerns.

Reading this also showed a parallel situation in my country - the reality that is global capitalism gnaws at the powerless at its own expense. All the language plays, if you pay attention to scrutinize its real meaning, would leave you in awe to how much we could go deep in saving only ourselves.

The concern is holistic. It doesn't concern only a country in retrospect, but everything in which the world is currently heading.

[Mum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by Suman. It's a collection of essays by the author of The God of Small Things, sharing her views about globalization and security all over the world, but particularly in India.

It's non-fiction and there is an excellent essay in it called The Algebra of Infinite Justice about the 9/11 attacks, global poverty and the convoluted biased media and all the spin surrounding politics.

The rest of the book was okay, although I was a little bit annoyed by the tone.... My reservation about this book is that it doesn't offer solutions, just articulates the problems (well) and I think it isn't broad enough intellectually. I thought that she didn't acknowledge other perspectives in the power/development debates that it addresses, just so that I knew she knew them at least.

Arundhati Roy is a great writer and inspires me to get going on writing myself.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a few political essays about the negative effects of globalization, mostly from the perspective of India, since Roy is from there. I was most interested in the first chapter (about the impact of dams), and the last one (about the warmongering of the U.S.), although all the essays had something new in them.

[Luciana Sari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roy's story focused on what happened to her and what happened in India, but her story is relevant to the third-world and developing countries elsewhere. In Power Politics she invites us to ponder about the role globalization and privatization of natural resources, as of how those concepts commonly used to deliver glittering promises of the better future and livelihoods for the people but, as she presented through the Narmada Valley Dam Project, those promises were not proven and instead it caused a devastating impact for the vulnerable community and environment. She wrote “Who can translate cash-flow charts and scintillating boardroom speeches into real stories about real people with real lives. Stories about what it’s like to lose your home, your land, your job, your dignity, your past, and your future to an invisible force” and in this book, she did that: translating and connecting the data from the ruling elite to the reality lived by the project-affected people by showing that there is huge difference between valuing natural resources and putting a market value on them as mostly endorsed and operated through the privatization practice.

“Planners, when confronted with past mistakes, say sagely, "Yes, it's true that mistakes have been made. But we're on a learning curve." The lives and livelihoods of fifty- six million people and all this environmental mayhem serve only to extend the majestic arc of their learning curve.”

This book is a sobering reminder that beyond the government’s self-proclaimed virtues of any (rushed) development and infrastructure projects presented through charts and numbers, there are people who didn’t understand but were heavily affected by the projects.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a political essay on Indian hydroelectric development, where I cannot begin to take a position and can only enjoy Roy's writing and analysis and assume it has a strong factual basis.

My edition of the 60-page essay fills out the volume with an interview with her on the subject of Ramachandra Guha, an "environmental historian", who devoted many successive Sunday opinion columns to attacking her credibility. She eviscerates him so thoroughly that one can't help but chuckle at her polemicism while wondering if this is how the Indian press works - I feel I would surely have made a lifetime enemy of someone I wrote about so disparagingly, but perhaps she's fine with that.

My only complaint with the essay proper is a needless attempt to use Rumpelstiltskin as some kind of metaphor which (several months later), I can't even recall how it was implemented.

[Arathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a propoganda war, there is no accurate estimation of how many people have been killed, or how much destruction has taken place

This book was published in 2000. I kept thinking about the historical context in which these essays were written and the debates that people had back then. We don't debate in school about privatization of water anymore (I think), for example. Didn't even know about the lawsuit between Enron and the Government of Maharashtra (so strange, so funny looking back). Then, I think of how much worse some of these things have become, and how some of us are too scared to say anything. What I also keep forgetting and find so joyful is just how funny Arundhati Roy is, even when she's angry.

[Fatimakhalid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written book. It delves in to the cruel realities behind all the political deals signed in the third world countries. How North America is exploiting and interfering in the politics of other countries? How the notion of "Whites are the saviours" is downright irrational but, is constantly promoted with such flashy words in mainstream media that makes the people of third world countries realise that it's the only option they have.
Message: It portrays a mature message that is "to unscramble their vernacular". Because they are using the language to cover their malevolence. They are covering their spiteful agendas in the beautifully coded words.

[Hamood Qureshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was some incredibly powerful and articulate writing. She's so tactful with her wording and is truly surgical with diagnosing the issue and moving it along. Incredibly powerful to read this as someone from Louisiana, where a lot of the issues she addresses regarding a lack of thorough assessment of the impact of "improving infrastructure" gets left behind, and yet she's able to put her finger on the issue and dissect it with immense detail. Each essay in this work is powerful in its own way, and while it is 24 years old and outdated, the underlying issues that she is talking about still persist today.

[Arjun · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for those interested in geopolitics. roy writes in a series of gripping essays about the perils of power — detailing political struggles over the construction of big dams in India, the suppression of free speech of writers, and the U.S.s post 9-11 terror campaign in Afghanistan.

Roy’s brazen writing is rare in this world, and thus it is no surprise to me that reviews by vandana shiva and Noam Chomsky cover the back of this book. what a trio of icons!

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arundhati Roy is a master. And reading her water right arguments gives me a vicarious sense of vindication. She is so smart. The corruption she details in these essays could not be more plain, and her particular gift with words and ideas and social action could not be better deployed.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex and heavy subject matter still relevant today. Gave me new insight on things I had never considered. Powerful book, wonderfully written.

[london · Rating 5 out of 5]

succinct and compelling. Always in awe of authors who can be so fluid in their fiction and non-fiction

[Punit Soni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arundhati Roy is pissed and rightly so. Power Politics, her book of essays deals with topics ranging from 9-11 to mega-hydroelectric projects in India providing a voice to something we all feel at one time or the other; that something is not right amidst all these economic success stories. Somewhere the stink is rising and as we sniff around trying to ascertain the cause, Arundhati points to the rotting carcasses of those left behind. We look around and hope that something could be done. Arundhati is doing it.
Over the years, since the popular success of her "God of Small Things", the booker prize winner has steadily become more and more involved in Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), using her clout and credibility to drum up support for the tribals whose lives are being submerged in the rising waters of Narmada. This book deals with that issue and much more.
Arundhati is her usual pithy self, terse, to-the-point and caustic. She minces no words and makes no excuses. She does not soften the blow nor does she hide her lack of nuetrality on the subject. It is refreshing to see a writer taking sides and not curling up underneath the soft underside of impartiality.
If there is an issue with this book, it is its short length. A collection of three essays is not my idea of a satisfying read nor are the matters helped by the fact that it is priced almost as much as a regular book. It has a lot of potiential but still comes of as being half a book, some sort of an introduction to ideas which have not yet been put down.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having experienced the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle first hand: some my floor-mates were on national TV for knocking down the NIKE sign while wearing Nike's, in watching the news one night after being downtown I found that I had been less than a block away from the mass arrest of over 200 people, my campus was surrounded by a police blockade at midnight one night due to the false report of a violent mob) this book speaks greatly to me about the reasoning behind the sometimes violent protesting. The essays in this book describe the plight of the lower castes in having to deal with BIG ELECTRICITY flooding their homes and farmlands, and other government measures taken in the name of globalization and modernization, and how civil rights can be both touted and ignored by a government who would consider jailing a writer for telling the truth and joining in non-violent protest and solidarity with those that 'have no voice'. This book is a must read!!!!!!!!!!

[Komal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book REALLY hit home for me. My family is from the Narmada Area in India originally and I can see the direct results of the Dam project...the areas look awful. My mother took me to India for the first time when I was two and pictures of them then along the banks of the Narmada in our village and now look like two different regions. I even moved to India out of curiosity for over a year and lived along the Narmada (different village than the one my family is from) until 2006 and today the region is completely unrecognizable. The wild life in the area has died, the people are suffering, the water flow has changed the entire region...the fact that the locals litter like crazy and throw their garbage into the now semi-stagnant waters really only make things worse.

I loved this book and I wish there were more people fighting for the locals and MORE people educating them...you can't throw plastic bags in moving water ever - it just makes things worse.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting commentary and important issues brought to light, particularly about the construction and brokering of extremely damaging hydroelectric dams in India. Not necessarily ground breaking, but certainly relevant to this day despite the relative age of the publication.

I take issue with Roy's irregular capitalization and some of the more outlandish comparisons that are not necessarily appropriate and lean towards fallacies. However I recognize their place in a world where shock value is harder and harder to come by.

Quick read if you have a little bit of time and gets you thinking, so it's worth reading.

[Lisa Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always feel a little cowed when reading Arundhati Roy, because she knows and does so much and I know and do so little. I appreciate learning more, though, about the dams projects in India and the various movements to stop them. I enjoy her writing style, which is no less forceful for being so accessible. I do wish she'd include footnotes or some kind of notation for all the facts and quotes she uses; especially if she's one of the only people reporting on this and she's such a high-profile recorder of these events, she should have it laid out in detail.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am definitely late to the debate about most of the stuff Roy is talking about in this book--10 years late, basically. But it's still amazing to read her stuff. She has a way of being angry without letting bitterness overwhelm, and her sarcasm offers up just a little bit of humore-as-relief while discussing the horrendous power dynamics at play in the world.

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

Now that I've finished this, I'm going to gobble up anything else she's written, and hope to find some stuff that's more current. She's amazing.

[Marilyn McEntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb, thoughtful set of essays on what Peter Dale Scott calls "deep politics." A reminder not to be naive about how decisions often get made behind the scenes by people who control more money and power than we like to think, and about the strenuous challenge of keeping those in power accountable. Indian politics become her lens for reflecting on global politics in ways relevant to us all. She's eloquent, intelligent, and courageous. She and Vendanta Shiva are two Indians to know about, even if you don't know anything else about India and Indian politics.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of “The God of Small Things” discusses the effects of globalization on the poor of India with a particular emphasis on those who are losing their homes and land as India builds dam after dam after dam. The democratic process is either given a token nod or brushed aside altogether as bribes, money and power drive the dam decisions. Also of interest in the book is Roy’s examination of the role of writers and artists in democracy and modern society.

[Arjunishankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judicial process and institution cannot be permitted to be scandalised or subjected to contumacious violation in such blatant manner in which it has been done by her [Arundhati Roy]... vicious stultification and vulgar debunking cannot be permitted to pollute the stream of justice... we are unhappy at the way in which the leaders of NBA and Ms. Arundhati Roy have attempted to undermine the dignity of the Court. We expected better behaviour from them...