Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Arundhati Roy: 'They are trying to keep me destabilised. Anybody who says anything is in danger'

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, June 6, 2011

Arundhati Roy: 'They are trying to keep me destabilised. Anybody who says anything is in danger'

Click here to access article by Stephen Moss from the Guardian.

As the author bumps into Roy on the way to a loo, he quickly arranges a meeting with her. Although he seems more interested in her recent non-fiction book entitled, Broken Republic, and plans for future novels, she fills him in on the mostly unreported, active insurgency going on in central India.

Roy talks about the resistance as an "insurrection"; she makes India sound as if it's ripe for a Chinese or Russian-style revolution. So how come we in the west don't hear about these mini-wars? "I have been told quite openly by several correspondents of international newspapers," she says, "that they have instructions – 'No negative news from India' – because it's an investment destination.