Novelist, activist, journalist, internal security threat? Arundhati Roy joins us for a special conversation about her journey into the forest in the heart of India to talk to Maoist revolutionaries.
Roy talks with Laura about resistance and struggle, war and colonialism, how you can't fire bullets at an ideology, and why we should all become internal security threats.
Like your new show/setup just wish it was longer–will try to send one time payment next Mo(April) as my SSI just doesn’t go as far as it used to..Keep up the great reporting Al
By Allan on March 27th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
One of the great things about Arundhati Roy is her ability to locate “hope” and to propose it as a real, tangable motor for the work that we are doing to move beyond Capitalism, War, and Imperialism. Thanks for a wonderful interview!
By Angelo Moreno on March 28th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
The “resistance fighters” being referred to in this interview are led by a group that calls itself the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This group (and its various Stalinist precursors) has killed more than 6000 people over the last 20 years, many of them rival leftists who don’t share the CPI(M)’s Pol-Pot-esque vision for India’s future.
Here is a link to another interview, with the leader of the CPI(M), a fellow who goes by the name “Comrade Ganapathy”:
http://tinyurl.com/ybkwj9v
In the course of the interview the words “eliminate” and “annihilate” frequently come up. These are Indian Maoist euphemisms for their favorite way of dealing with political opponents on the left and anyone who works for the democratically elected government of India: murder.
By Apuleius Platonicus on March 28th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
God bless you Ms. Roy, you are the voice to the voiceless. There isn’t a single book or topic or lecture which I haven’t read or heard of your’s.
Thanks for the upload
A Voiceless Kashmiri…
By shoaib rafiq on March 29th, 2010 at 6:09 am
democracy only works for 51% of those who vote.
By elkojohn on March 29th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
What is the alternative to Democracy ? More Democracy and certainly NOT a mao-ist inspired Soviet system !! We all know what happened to the Soviets and their satellites , no ?
By Amit on March 30th, 2010 at 12:06 am
What is note-worthy is that people, who apparently have never read history want to follow Mao’s footsteps. The same Mao who wiped out 70 million of his country-men in purges, self induced famines and the cultural revolutions. If it weren’t for Maoist policies, China would have had it’s explosive growth 30 years before it actually did without any of the heart-wrenching suffering. In India of course, all it takes is one delusional author like Suzanna Arundhati Roy and the parrots echo the nonsense.
By Stewart on March 30th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Excellent interview on a subject NEVER talked about in US media, which makes one wonder why we don’t hear about it. Maybe we’re that obsessed with empire that we’re willing to stay complicit in its promotion overseas. The mega-corporations who rely on India’s internal security for cheap labor and relaxed environmental regulation probably also play a role in suppressing dissent… Perhaps part of it comes from the fact that the same companies charged with reporting the news objectively on public airwaves (i.e. NBC) are owned by larger corporate parents who count the Indian government (among many other democratic *cough* totalitarian *cough*) among their clients for the sale of military equipment and bombs (GE). Laura, I hope you never sell out, because it would be a sad day for American journalism. I also applaud your recent decision to call out the New York Times’ “All the news that’s fit to print [and nothing that endangers American hegemony or corporate interests].” We need more people like you, not afraid to speak their minds, influencing the intellectual dialogue of this country, rather than industry group puppets and political pundits. Also, why did your show change from an hour to a half hour? I really miss the other half.
Amit, the Soviets were a special case. While they certainly didn’t succeed in achieving the goals of Marx, this was primarily due to military expenditure and a nuclear arms race that the US promoted with Cold War policies. An anecdotal failure does not make invalid an entire ideology.
By Aaron Phillips on March 30th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Really inspiring… keep on digging up such realities Ms Roy.. We are behind u…keep it up Ms Roy…
By Nepali in abroad on March 30th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
A new avatar, against the Brahminical National parties in India. It was a new idea, which you said on Democracy, I salute you comrade.
By ravichandran on March 31st, 2010 at 6:27 am
how can I down load this viedio?
By raoof kk on April 1st, 2010 at 6:55 am
[...] Arundhati Roy will also be at MIT on Friday afternoon. The MIT event will include Amy and Noam. The main lecture hall is ’sold out’ but they have 5 overflow rooms planned. While it will be webcast, it might be a good show of strength to fill all the overflow rooms. I’ll try to get pictures from them all and post them here. [...]
By the guy by the door … » Blog Archive » Rites of Spring: Justice and Peace on April 2nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Echo Aaron Phillips, the kind of thing NEVER talked about by the capitalist news media, liberal or conservative. To it, communism is dead and a joke, move on. Likewise Nepal, and the recent coverage of a moderate politician there who was of central importance, but in a way that completely whitewashed that it was the communists’ who won the victory against the despotic monarchy, and with integrity stuck to their pledge of multi-party representative democracy. Also, I just like watching Arundhati Roy. Hey, we all have our crushes. Great report, another example of the type of reporting I’d love to see.
By criticiseafterdinner on April 5th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
for Laura and everybody : by hope she meant that if maoists win this war against the “corpocracy” then we all can hope for democracy.
By who wants development we want to live on April 28th, 2010 at 7:43 pm