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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this take on essay/criticism because it did not have the same jargon-y language often employed which makes criticism, specifically about capitalism, difficult to read. The tone of this work is, in some ways, chatty but also well referenced and straight to the point. The only draw back is the tendency for hyperbole (sometimes without a source) which can undermine the severity of the issue at hand (although, paradoxically, one could argue that it serves to highlight the issue and outline its importance above other points). I think it's very important to read criticisms of capitalism outside of the Western canon (which dominates much of the conversation about the topic), as it reveals the scale of global capitalism that we are currently dealing with and the inescapability of this particular economic system. The first essay in the book is definitely the star piece whilst the others are a direct response to a specific event which I didn't find quite as profound, perhaps because they generally developed points already touched upon. I also think that this work did something which others concerned with capitalism do not, and that is the environmental and ecological implications of the pursuit of business interests. This is great to read alongside Adinga's 'The White Tiger' and Mehta's 'Maximum City' as both a fictional and journalistic account (respectively) of the same phenomena being spoken about in Roy's work.
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Arundhati Roy is, as always, highly-researched, sharp-tongued, and aiming for justice. Roy is a constant critic of India’s far-right, neoliberal, corrupt, religio-nationalist state. She is an important voice, and this book is cutting and eye-opening. A must read.
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
dark
fast-paced
informative
fast-paced
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
fast-paced
Vocab
Germane: relevant to a subject under consideration (that is not germane to our theme.)
“[due to capitalism and concentrated wealth], tidal waves of money crash through the institutions of democracy - the courts, the parliament - as well as the media, seriously compromising their ability to function in the ways they are meant to. The noisier the carnival around elections, the less sure we are that democracy really exists.” (11)
On response to 2006 Salwa Judum activity in Chhattisgarh
“After three years of ‘low-intensity conflict’ that has not managed to ‘flush’ rebels out of the forest, the central government has declared it will deploy the Indian army and air force. In India we don’t call this war. We call it ‘Creating a Good Investment Climate.’ ‘“ (13)
Company owned (or even lobbied measures) [might have been used] to influence outcomes of public hearings etc … “Media houses are in a a position to do so. They have the power to do so. The laws of the land allow them to be in a position that lends itself to serious conflict of interest.” (15)
“Microfinane, such as Mohammed Yunus’ Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, has broth microcredit to starving peasants with disastrous consequences .. poor of the subcontinent have always been in debt.. micro finance has corporatised that too. Micro finance companies in India are repsosibnble for hundred of suicides.. one 18 year old school girl was forced to hand over her last 150 rupees (her school fees. Her suicide note read “work hard and earn money. Do not take loans.” (27)
“as though it were a lack of information that is the cause of world hunger and not colonialism, debt and skewed profit-oriented corporate policy.” (31)
“Armed with their billions, these NGOs have waded into the world, turning potential revolutionaries into salaried activists, fundraising artists, intellectuals and film makers, gently luring them away from radical confrontation, ushering them in the direction of multi-culturalism, gender equity, community development - the discourse couched in the language of indeitity politics and human rights. The transformation of the idea of justice into the industry of human rights has been a conceptual coup in which NOS and foundations ave played a crucial part … That is not to suggest that human rights don’t matter. They do, but they are not a good enough prism which to view or remotely understand the great injustices in the world we live in.” (34)
“Do we need weapons to fight wars? Or do we need weapons to fight wars> Or do we need wars to create a market for weapons? After all, the econmies of Europe, The US, and Israel huge depend on their weapons industry. it’s the one thing they haven’t outsourced to China.” (43)
“Capitalism is going through a crisis whose gravity has not revealed itself yet… Trickle down [has] failed. ” (45)
“Is corruption just a matter of legality, of financial irregularities nd bribery, or is it the currency of a social transaction in an egregiously unequal society, in which power continues to be concentrated in the hands of a smaller and smaller minority?” (50)
“One day, in Dantewad too, the dead will begin to speak. And it will not just be dead humans, it will be the dead land, dead rivers, dead mountains, and dead creatures in dead forests that will insist on a hearing. Meanwhile, life goes on.” (65)
“For more than twenty years Kashmiris have endured a military occupation. The tens of thousands that have lost their lives were killed in prisons, trture centers and “encounters,” geniune as well as fake…. What direction, what for will [young Kashmiri’s] new cold, corrosive anger take? Will it lead them to the blessed liberation they so year for and have sacrificed a whole generation for, or while it lead to yet another cycle of cataclysmic violence, of being beaten down and then having “normalcy” imposed on them under soldiers’ boots?” (85)
“What would a war with Pakistan have achieved then,a nd what will achieve now? (Apart from a massive loss of life. And fattening the bank accounts of some arms dealers.)” (88)
“Ever since the Great Depression, the manufacture of weapons and the export of war have been key ways the United States has stimulated its economy … [they] have sold five billion dollars’ worth of military aircraft to my country India - my country, which has more poor people than all the poorest countries of Africa put together (citation: Cohen and Dasagupta, March/April 2011, “Arm Sales for India” in Foreign Affairs.) All these wars, from the mobbing of Hiroshia and Nagasaki to ietname, Korea, Latin America, have claimed millions of lives - all of them fought to secure ‘the American way of life.’ Today we know that this way of life - the model that the ret of the world is meant to aspire to - has resulted in four hundred people owning the earth of half the population of the US. It has meant that thousands of people being turned out of their homes and jobs while the US government bailed out banks and corporations - American International Group (AIG) alone was given 182 billion dollars.” (94)
Germane: relevant to a subject under consideration (that is not germane to our theme.)
“[due to capitalism and concentrated wealth], tidal waves of money crash through the institutions of democracy - the courts, the parliament - as well as the media, seriously compromising their ability to function in the ways they are meant to. The noisier the carnival around elections, the less sure we are that democracy really exists.” (11)
On response to 2006 Salwa Judum activity in Chhattisgarh
“After three years of ‘low-intensity conflict’ that has not managed to ‘flush’ rebels out of the forest, the central government has declared it will deploy the Indian army and air force. In India we don’t call this war. We call it ‘Creating a Good Investment Climate.’ ‘“ (13)
Company owned (or even lobbied measures) [might have been used] to influence outcomes of public hearings etc … “Media houses are in a a position to do so. They have the power to do so. The laws of the land allow them to be in a position that lends itself to serious conflict of interest.” (15)
“Microfinane, such as Mohammed Yunus’ Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, has broth microcredit to starving peasants with disastrous consequences .. poor of the subcontinent have always been in debt.. micro finance has corporatised that too. Micro finance companies in India are repsosibnble for hundred of suicides.. one 18 year old school girl was forced to hand over her last 150 rupees (her school fees. Her suicide note read “work hard and earn money. Do not take loans.” (27)
“as though it were a lack of information that is the cause of world hunger and not colonialism, debt and skewed profit-oriented corporate policy.” (31)
“Armed with their billions, these NGOs have waded into the world, turning potential revolutionaries into salaried activists, fundraising artists, intellectuals and film makers, gently luring them away from radical confrontation, ushering them in the direction of multi-culturalism, gender equity, community development - the discourse couched in the language of indeitity politics and human rights. The transformation of the idea of justice into the industry of human rights has been a conceptual coup in which NOS and foundations ave played a crucial part … That is not to suggest that human rights don’t matter. They do, but they are not a good enough prism which to view or remotely understand the great injustices in the world we live in.” (34)
“Do we need weapons to fight wars? Or do we need weapons to fight wars> Or do we need wars to create a market for weapons? After all, the econmies of Europe, The US, and Israel huge depend on their weapons industry. it’s the one thing they haven’t outsourced to China.” (43)
“Capitalism is going through a crisis whose gravity has not revealed itself yet… Trickle down [has] failed. ” (45)
“Is corruption just a matter of legality, of financial irregularities nd bribery, or is it the currency of a social transaction in an egregiously unequal society, in which power continues to be concentrated in the hands of a smaller and smaller minority?” (50)
“One day, in Dantewad too, the dead will begin to speak. And it will not just be dead humans, it will be the dead land, dead rivers, dead mountains, and dead creatures in dead forests that will insist on a hearing. Meanwhile, life goes on.” (65)
“For more than twenty years Kashmiris have endured a military occupation. The tens of thousands that have lost their lives were killed in prisons, trture centers and “encounters,” geniune as well as fake…. What direction, what for will [young Kashmiri’s] new cold, corrosive anger take? Will it lead them to the blessed liberation they so year for and have sacrificed a whole generation for, or while it lead to yet another cycle of cataclysmic violence, of being beaten down and then having “normalcy” imposed on them under soldiers’ boots?” (85)
“What would a war with Pakistan have achieved then,a nd what will achieve now? (Apart from a massive loss of life. And fattening the bank accounts of some arms dealers.)” (88)
“Ever since the Great Depression, the manufacture of weapons and the export of war have been key ways the United States has stimulated its economy … [they] have sold five billion dollars’ worth of military aircraft to my country India - my country, which has more poor people than all the poorest countries of Africa put together (citation: Cohen and Dasagupta, March/April 2011, “Arm Sales for India” in Foreign Affairs.) All these wars, from the mobbing of Hiroshia and Nagasaki to ietname, Korea, Latin America, have claimed millions of lives - all of them fought to secure ‘the American way of life.’ Today we know that this way of life - the model that the ret of the world is meant to aspire to - has resulted in four hundred people owning the earth of half the population of the US. It has meant that thousands of people being turned out of their homes and jobs while the US government bailed out banks and corporations - American International Group (AIG) alone was given 182 billion dollars.” (94)
A brief, incisive, masterful cartography of power and all of its rot in the contemporary Indian state. Simultaneously left me feeling hopeless about the future but hungry to learn more.