criticising Arundhati Roy

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

        I don't quite understand the current 
criticisms of Arundhati Roy on this list--- 
especially yours, Doug. What exactly is behind 
it? Jealousy? Gender? Culture? Politics? Especially the latter.
        I found her recent interview an 
important validation of the struggle in India 
against neoliberalism--- especially in its phony 
left guises. See the excerpts below. Does that bother you folks?
                michael


> [Q]  There is an atmosphere of growing violence across the country.
> How do you read the signs? In what context should it be read?
>
> [A]  You don't have to be a genius to read the 
> signs....So it's outright war, and people
> on both sides are choosing their weapons. ... 
> Those who want to resist this process have,
> until now, reached for dharnas, hunger strikes, satyagraha, the courts
> and what they thought was friendly media. But now more and more are
> reaching for guns. Will the violence grow? If the 'growth rate' and
> the Sensex are going to be the only barometers the government uses to
> measure progress and the well-being of people, then of course it will.
> How do I read the signs? It isn't hard to read sky-writing. What it
> says up there, in big letters, is this: the shit has hit the fan,
> folks.
>
> [Q]  You once remarked that though you may not resort to violence
> yourself, you think it has become immoral to condemn it, given the
> circumstances in the country. Can you elaborate on this view?
>
> [A]  I'd be a liability as a guerrilla! I doubt I used the word
> 'immoral' ­ morality is an elusive business, as changeable as the
> weather. What I feel is this: non-violent movements have knocked at
> the door of every democratic institution in this country for decades,
> and have been spurned and humiliated. ... I've 
> always felt that it's ironic that hunger strikes are
> used as a political weapon in a land where most people go hungry
> anyway. We are in a different time and place now. Up against a
> different, more complex adversary. ...
>
> In a climate like this, when people feel that they are being worn
> down, exhausted by these interminable 'democratic' processes, only to
> be eventually humiliated, what are they supposed 
> to do?... Right now, in India, the Maoists and
> the various Marxist-Leninist groups are leading the fight against
> immense injustice here. They are fighting not just the State, but
> feudal landlords and their armed militias. They are the only people
> who are making a dent. And I admire that.



Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

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