Arundhati Roys' Politics

I've seen a video of a speech by her published by AK Press - it was a while back so I don't remember it all that well but I don't recall particularly disagreeing with anything she said, it was pretty good stuff.

Also 'The God of Small Things' is a wonderful book, and I'd be loathe to hear a word against her on that basis alone! Why do you want to subject her to a hostile 'dissection' if you haven't read any of her stuff anyway?

Ah yeah that would be cool - sounds like there's a lot of communism in India but its mostly Maoists and Stalinists. I recently picked up a non-fiction political book by her which i haven't read yet, will try to read it soon (degree finals allowing!) and let you know. don't think i'll be up to writing a proper critique for a good few months though i'm afraid, though it might be something that could go in DA or whatever so worth doing for a number of reasons once i have the time.

if ncwob is right then you could try asking the chommeister chomsky (at) mit . edu

he's a rabbi too?

he's blatantly a committee

Ok the book I just read was published in 2002, she's written other political books and essays since then, most of which are here

the essays in 'The algebra of infinite justice' are about India's development of the atomic bomb, big dam projects, the 'war on terror' and the rise of Hindu fascism. All of them are pretty much addressed to Indian people, though they were published elsewhere obviously, so that's a plus point if your friend wants to use them.

She doesn't appear to have a concrete ideology which she adheres to in the way that Chomsky says he's an anarcho-syndicalist, in that sense I guess you could argue that she is a bit like Naomi Klein in that she makes a very powerful case against various aspects of capitalism without providing a solution other than a general ideal of 'people power', internationalism and direct action. I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, though it does limit your friend's ability to use her writing as a way to introduce people to anarchism.

A good thing about her writing is that even when she is criticising the actions of western multinationals, the World Bank etc in India she never strays into nationalism, rather she identifies the involvement of the local elite in these dodgy deals and turns it into a class issue. In fact opposition to nationalism of all sorts, and particularly Indian and Hindu nationalism is one of the major themes of these essays.

The only thing that jarred a little for me in these essays is that she repeatedly compares India's treatment of the people being disposessed (and, it has to be said, often killed due to starvation and lack of safe drinking water) by big dam projects with the Nazis' treatment of Jews. Perhaps this seems less cringeworthy to someone reading in India than it does to us in Europe, I don't know, but it was a little annoying. On the subject of the dams in general she is clearly hugely knowledgeable and extremely angry, and I was pleased that the arguments were about the practicalities of the dam projects, their feasibility and who will suffer and benefit from them rather than being against development per se.

One passage that might not sit entirely comfortably with anarchists is when she discusses whether "In the event we're called on to vote, is there a difference between the two? (The Congress and BJP parties) The answer is a faltering but distinct 'yes'."

This is in an essay about BJP involvement in a pogrom of between 800 and 2,000 Muslims in 2002 (which she also compares to the Nazis, perhaps more appropriately in that it does remind you of kristallnacht etc and the perpetrators have voiced their admiration for Hitler's methods), and she's basically arguing that whilst the Congress party have done stuff that is just as bad, at least they have tried to hide it rather than doing it proudly and openly. This is hardly a ringing endorsement of Indian democracy, however, and she makes it very clear later on that the whole system needs to be changed, not just the party that is in power.

Another thing I saw which might amount to a criticism is that it says on her wiki that she recently supported some kind of boycott of Israel, which personally I would disagree with since it seems to treat all Israelis as the enemy rather than just the Israeli ruling class.

These are the only criticisms I could think of though, generally she's got good politics and is very close to anarchism, particularly in terms of her internationalism. She researches the stuff she writes about very well and it goes without saying she is a fantastic writer which makes it all the more effective and thought-provoking. Also I'd say her anger comes through more clearly than most other political writers which I think is good. Generally I'd recommend your friend use her stuff, though I'm not sure her exact politics are clear enough to be a "viable platform for most ordinary Indians."

Hope that helps!

Oh and that essay she wrote about Noam Chomsky is about his insights into the capitalist media and US foreign policy, not about his anarchism (not that they aren't linked, obviously).