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War Talk
As the United States pushes for war on Iraq, Arundhati Roy, the internationally acclaimed author of The God of Small Things, addresses issues of democracy and dissent, racism and empire, and war and peace in this collection of new essays. The eloquence, passion, and political insight of Roy’s political essays have added legions of readers to those already familiar with her Booker Prize-winning novel. -Invited to lecture as part of the prestigious Lannan -Foundation series on the first anniversary of the unconscionable attacks of September 11, 2001, Roy challenged those who equate dissent with being "anti-American." Her previous essays on globalization and dissent have led many to see Roy as "India's most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence" ( New York Times ). War Talk collects new essays by this prolific writer. Her work highlights the global rise of religious and racial violence. From the horrific pogroms against Muslims in Gujarat, India, to U.S. demands for a war on Iraq, Roy confronts the call to militarism. Desperately working against the backdrop of the nuclear recklessness between her homeland and Pakistan, she calls into question the equation of nation and ethnicity. And throughout her essays, Roy interrogates her own roles as "writer" and "activist." "If [Roy] continues to upset the globalization applecart like a Tom Paine pamphleteer, she will either be greatly honored or thrown in jail," wrote Pawl Hawken in Wired Magazine. In fact she was jailed in March 2002, when -India's Supreme Court found Roy in contempt of the court after months of attempting to silence her criticism of the government. Fully annotated versions of all Roy's most recent -essays, including her acclaimed Lannan Foundation -lecture from September 2002, are included in War Talk . Arundhati Roy is the winner of the Lannan Foundation’s Prize for Cultural Freedom, 2002, and will be returning to the U.S. in association with the Lannan Foundation in 2003. Roy’s most recent collection of essays, Power Politics , now in its second edition, sold over 25,000 copies in its first 12 months.
152 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2003
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1,976 people want to read
About the author
Arundhati Roy
106Ìýbooks12.4kÌýfollowersArundhati Roy is an Indian writer who is also an activist who focuses on issues related to social justice and economic inequality. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays.
For her work as an activist she received the Cultural Freedom Prize awarded by the Lannan Foundation in 2002.
For her work as an activist she received the Cultural Freedom Prize awarded by the Lannan Foundation in 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
June 6, 2023
In my journey through Roy’s nonfiction, this 2002-2003 compilation enters the ‘War on Terror� era leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
Highlights:
-The essay “Come September� considers the zealous fervor post-9/11, where “why do they hate us?� (Bush Jr. answers: “they hate our freedoms�) combined with militaristic nationalism to condemn “anti-Americans�.
-Roy states that she is not anti-national; she is anti-nationalism. She then delivers a “welcome to the world� for those unaware of recent history:
1) Sept 11, 1973: CIA-backed General Pinochet overthrows democratically-elected reformer Salvador Allende in Chile.
2) Sept 11, 1922: British mandate in Palestine (follow-up to 1917 Balfour Declaration).
3) Sept 11, 1990: George Bush Sr.’s speech justifying the Gulf War against Iraq. Roy highlights the history of US/UK support of Saddam’s worst atrocities, and the US’s subsequent bombing and economic terrorism (with the infamous response by liberal feminist hero/war criminal to half-a-million Iraqi children deaths from sanctions: �we think the price was worth it�).
--For her earlier works, see:
-on India’s nuclear weapons: The Cost of Living
-on India’s mega dam displacements: The Greater Common Good
-on fascistic Hindu nationalism: The Algebra of Infinite Justice
--For later works:
-on India's jobless growth: Capitalism: A Ghost Story
-on India's Maoists: Walking with the Comrades
Highlights:
-The essay “Come September� considers the zealous fervor post-9/11, where “why do they hate us?� (Bush Jr. answers: “they hate our freedoms�) combined with militaristic nationalism to condemn “anti-Americans�.
-Roy states that she is not anti-national; she is anti-nationalism. She then delivers a “welcome to the world� for those unaware of recent history:
1) Sept 11, 1973: CIA-backed General Pinochet overthrows democratically-elected reformer Salvador Allende in Chile.
2) Sept 11, 1922: British mandate in Palestine (follow-up to 1917 Balfour Declaration).
3) Sept 11, 1990: George Bush Sr.’s speech justifying the Gulf War against Iraq. Roy highlights the history of US/UK support of Saddam’s worst atrocities, and the US’s subsequent bombing and economic terrorism (with the infamous response by liberal feminist hero/war criminal to half-a-million Iraqi children deaths from sanctions: �we think the price was worth it�).
--For her earlier works, see:
-on India’s nuclear weapons: The Cost of Living
-on India’s mega dam displacements: The Greater Common Good
-on fascistic Hindu nationalism: The Algebra of Infinite Justice
--For later works:
-on India's jobless growth: Capitalism: A Ghost Story
-on India's Maoists: Walking with the Comrades
June 16, 2018
These pieces were written between 2002-2003 and reflect that troubled time. The titular piece opens the collection and is certainly timely in light of the bellicose rhetoric between North Korea and the Oval Office. The other pieces were not as gripping. There is an interesting view of domestic India and its myriad concerns.
December 29, 2018
Read this curled up in one horrified sitting on a (new) friend's sofa, even gasping at one point ("Is that the part about Churchill?" - "Very definitely yes")
Moving and written with empathy and simplicity, but still somehow lacking... something. COuldn't say what, just trying to justify the four stars.
Moving and written with empathy and simplicity, but still somehow lacking... something. COuldn't say what, just trying to justify the four stars.
August 2, 2008
the empowering work of a woman deeply committed to truth.
November 19, 2020
Loved this book. Roy is an excellent writer with keen insights and arguments about war, suffering, and empire. On to Chomsky now!
May 28, 2021
good read, needed to be a bit more in depth, but it was information, i knew not much about
Read
May 11, 2013Also found on:
My most recent find at Westsider Books was a copy of “War Talk� by Arundhati Roy. The title and blurb sounded interesting so I picked it up. I also thought that since this book was written by not only a woman, but a woman from India that it would be valuable to expand upon the typical male and American voices and perspectives. Roy is the author of “The God of Small Things�, which I haven’t read but was popular several years ago. I will say from the beginning that I would strongly recommend “War Talk� to anyone interested in discussions of violence, particularly state led violence. Again, it is also very interesting as many of the issues discussed are specific to India; issues not often shown in U.S. media.
For example, Roy discusses inter-communal violence in India between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims. She writes about a 2002 pogrom in Gujarat led by Hindu nationalists against Muslims. A pogrom that left at least 800 dead and thousands displaced (page 19). Or consider: “In 1984, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Congress Party presided over the massacre of three thousand Sikhs in Delhi, every bit as macabre as the one in Gujarat (page 27).� In Roy’s words: “The more the two sides [Hindus and Muslims] try and call attention to their religious differences by slaughtering each other, the less there is to distinguish them from one another. They worship at the same alter. They’re both apostles of the same murderous god, whoever he is.�
Roy writes also to expose the stupidity of America’s “War on Terror�, the ridiculous justifications for the Iraq War, and the rise of right wing politics and parties in India in the early 2000s. One theme throughout is the hypocrisy of world policeman America (along with lapdog Britain), and the never ending violence it commits against the rest of the world. Consider from page 30: “Let’s all suffer forever. Let’s buy expensive guns and explosives to kill each other with. Let the British arms dealers and the American weapons manufacturers grow fat on our spilled blood. We could ask the Carlyle group-of which the Bush and bin Laden families were both shareholders-for a bulk discount.� Or from page 6: “Tony Blair’s “peace� mission a few months ago was actually a business trip to discuss a one-billion pound deal (and don’t forget the kickbacks, O Best Beloved) to sell sixty-six Hawk fighter-bombers to India. Roughly, for the price of a single Hawk bomber, the government could provide one and a half million people with clean drinking water for life.� These quotes speak for themselves.
While reading works by good authors, I am often reminded that powerful thoughts have already been articulated, and most likely, better than I could articulate them. Take for example this quote from page 44: “Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.� There is not doubt in my mind that patriotism and nationalism are the most effective tools government’s have to convince their populations that we are good, and the rest is evil. The only logical outcome of such thinking is flag draped coffins full of dead young men and women. Working against this “shrink-wrapping� is of paramount importance. It is essential not to fall into an us and them mentality but to recognize that it is the same forces that oppress the disenfranchised throughout the world.
I will leave on what I think is a very powerful quote and a quote that expresses perfectly the absurd justifications for violence one hears non-stop in mainstream media outlets and out of the mouths of government apologists. “Yet, each person who has lost a loved one surely knows, secretly, deeply, that no war, no act of revenge, no daisy-cutters dropped on someone else’s loved ones or someone else’s children will blunt the edges of their pain or bring their own loved ones back. War cannot avenge those who have died. War is only a brutal desecration of their memory (page 52).�
My most recent find at Westsider Books was a copy of “War Talk� by Arundhati Roy. The title and blurb sounded interesting so I picked it up. I also thought that since this book was written by not only a woman, but a woman from India that it would be valuable to expand upon the typical male and American voices and perspectives. Roy is the author of “The God of Small Things�, which I haven’t read but was popular several years ago. I will say from the beginning that I would strongly recommend “War Talk� to anyone interested in discussions of violence, particularly state led violence. Again, it is also very interesting as many of the issues discussed are specific to India; issues not often shown in U.S. media.
For example, Roy discusses inter-communal violence in India between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims. She writes about a 2002 pogrom in Gujarat led by Hindu nationalists against Muslims. A pogrom that left at least 800 dead and thousands displaced (page 19). Or consider: “In 1984, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Congress Party presided over the massacre of three thousand Sikhs in Delhi, every bit as macabre as the one in Gujarat (page 27).� In Roy’s words: “The more the two sides [Hindus and Muslims] try and call attention to their religious differences by slaughtering each other, the less there is to distinguish them from one another. They worship at the same alter. They’re both apostles of the same murderous god, whoever he is.�
Roy writes also to expose the stupidity of America’s “War on Terror�, the ridiculous justifications for the Iraq War, and the rise of right wing politics and parties in India in the early 2000s. One theme throughout is the hypocrisy of world policeman America (along with lapdog Britain), and the never ending violence it commits against the rest of the world. Consider from page 30: “Let’s all suffer forever. Let’s buy expensive guns and explosives to kill each other with. Let the British arms dealers and the American weapons manufacturers grow fat on our spilled blood. We could ask the Carlyle group-of which the Bush and bin Laden families were both shareholders-for a bulk discount.� Or from page 6: “Tony Blair’s “peace� mission a few months ago was actually a business trip to discuss a one-billion pound deal (and don’t forget the kickbacks, O Best Beloved) to sell sixty-six Hawk fighter-bombers to India. Roughly, for the price of a single Hawk bomber, the government could provide one and a half million people with clean drinking water for life.� These quotes speak for themselves.
While reading works by good authors, I am often reminded that powerful thoughts have already been articulated, and most likely, better than I could articulate them. Take for example this quote from page 44: “Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.� There is not doubt in my mind that patriotism and nationalism are the most effective tools government’s have to convince their populations that we are good, and the rest is evil. The only logical outcome of such thinking is flag draped coffins full of dead young men and women. Working against this “shrink-wrapping� is of paramount importance. It is essential not to fall into an us and them mentality but to recognize that it is the same forces that oppress the disenfranchised throughout the world.
I will leave on what I think is a very powerful quote and a quote that expresses perfectly the absurd justifications for violence one hears non-stop in mainstream media outlets and out of the mouths of government apologists. “Yet, each person who has lost a loved one surely knows, secretly, deeply, that no war, no act of revenge, no daisy-cutters dropped on someone else’s loved ones or someone else’s children will blunt the edges of their pain or bring their own loved ones back. War cannot avenge those who have died. War is only a brutal desecration of their memory (page 52).�
October 31, 2017
Exceptional collection of essays from Arundhati Roy about the nature of war and its relationship to capitalism, imperialism, and the American Empire. She addresses Indian Nationalism and fascism, the aggression between India and Pakistan, and the US War on Terror.
May 15, 2023
The essays in this collection were written in 2002-2003, and reflect the events of that time. And yet, they also feel entirely relevant 20 years later, which is a disturbing reflection of the realities of global geo-political and economic relationships and how little things have changed for the better in this century.
The first couple of essays focus on internal events in India, and address the rising levels of Hindu nationalism and the neo-fascist tendencies of those who espoused such policies. The discussion of the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat is painfully fresh and searing in its indictment of the political structures that enabled it and gave it cover. The author also points out how America's "War on Terror" also provided cover for such atrocities, and how it rendered non-violent protests ineffective, thus actually driving those with issues that needed to be addressed towards violent means for drawing attention to their needs.
But then the essays shift outward, taking on a more global viewpoint. The author broadens her arguments to discuss the impact of corporate globalization on the "developing" world. According to this analysis, such globalization results in less democracy and less freedom, at least in the so-called developing nations, because such freedoms would allow for local resistance to the changes demanded by the trans-national corporations. These are hard truths to swallow for those of us who live on the other side of the formula. It can be painful to learn that our way of life is built upon a system that actively oppresses others around the world, that we are implicated in this oppression by our quiet acceptance of the status quo. And while the criticisms presented here are now two decades old, a critical review of the current global situation gives no suggestion that things have improved, and certainly indicates that things are possibly worse.
The first couple of essays focus on internal events in India, and address the rising levels of Hindu nationalism and the neo-fascist tendencies of those who espoused such policies. The discussion of the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat is painfully fresh and searing in its indictment of the political structures that enabled it and gave it cover. The author also points out how America's "War on Terror" also provided cover for such atrocities, and how it rendered non-violent protests ineffective, thus actually driving those with issues that needed to be addressed towards violent means for drawing attention to their needs.
But then the essays shift outward, taking on a more global viewpoint. The author broadens her arguments to discuss the impact of corporate globalization on the "developing" world. According to this analysis, such globalization results in less democracy and less freedom, at least in the so-called developing nations, because such freedoms would allow for local resistance to the changes demanded by the trans-national corporations. These are hard truths to swallow for those of us who live on the other side of the formula. It can be painful to learn that our way of life is built upon a system that actively oppresses others around the world, that we are implicated in this oppression by our quiet acceptance of the status quo. And while the criticisms presented here are now two decades old, a critical review of the current global situation gives no suggestion that things have improved, and certainly indicates that things are possibly worse.
March 27, 2025
i liked some of these essays well enough, didn’t love others or personally did not get much from them. the titular essay was particularly affecting: “which society will welcome me and allow me to be the hooligan i am here, at home?� the strongest ones to me were the writings on indian politics (war talk, ahimsa, and democracy), although i’m biased because indian politics is such a huge blind spot for me that i found these (especially democracy’s descriptions of the 2002 gujarat riots!) especially worthwhile. it’s interesting to read these in the context of modi as prime minister�
it’s kind of weird to read the work of a leftist writing in the 2000s, a generally terrible time to have any sort of critical opinion against the bush administration, because the current discourse feels like it’s kind of moved past the recountings of US interventionism and critiques of the IMF/WTO/World Bank that roy emphasises so often. i do think for a different reader this might be really insightful…maybe i can get my mom to read this.
also, i did not like roy’s use of a certain slur against vietnamese people in the essay about chomsky…i get why she did it but i really think she could have been a little more cautious about that. just a weird choice. overall left with a fairly good impression of arundhati roy’s prose, if not the strength of her political analysis. need to check out some of her fiction sometime!
it’s kind of weird to read the work of a leftist writing in the 2000s, a generally terrible time to have any sort of critical opinion against the bush administration, because the current discourse feels like it’s kind of moved past the recountings of US interventionism and critiques of the IMF/WTO/World Bank that roy emphasises so often. i do think for a different reader this might be really insightful…maybe i can get my mom to read this.
also, i did not like roy’s use of a certain slur against vietnamese people in the essay about chomsky…i get why she did it but i really think she could have been a little more cautious about that. just a weird choice. overall left with a fairly good impression of arundhati roy’s prose, if not the strength of her political analysis. need to check out some of her fiction sometime!
March 27, 2022
I picked this book up on my trip to Providence because it was cheap and I had loved The God of Small Things in college. These essays -- from 2002 and 2003 -- are surprisingly resonant with current world affairs. She discusses the nature of fascism and the problems associated with the lust for power and control cloaked in religious intolerance. She spoke many truths about the US/American empire and the atrocities it has committed on non-white people in the name of freedom. And she pointed out that naked capitalism is best served by totalitarianism rather than democracy.
I originally thought that I would be giving this book away at an upcoming book festival. But I may end up keeping it. I certainly underlined multiple passages and made many marginal notes. And I came close to vomiting when I read quotes from Lord Balfour and Churchill on the creation of the state of Israel and the ones from the Pentagon papers about the annihilation of the civilian population of Vietnam in order to bring them freedom. Thankfully the United States is a peaceful country (sarcasm definitely intended).
I originally thought that I would be giving this book away at an upcoming book festival. But I may end up keeping it. I certainly underlined multiple passages and made many marginal notes. And I came close to vomiting when I read quotes from Lord Balfour and Churchill on the creation of the state of Israel and the ones from the Pentagon papers about the annihilation of the civilian population of Vietnam in order to bring them freedom. Thankfully the United States is a peaceful country (sarcasm definitely intended).
May 3, 2019
As a collection of essays on various topics, it's hard to understand what to actually review with regards to War Talk. Reading it over 15 years after it was written though allows one to follow up on the threads Arundhati Roy spins out and see how we're doing on the various fronts she discusses. Tensions are high again between India and Pakistan, Narendra Modi who is heavily discussed in the essay "Democracy" is Prime Minister now instead of Chief Minister of Gujarat as he was then, and global corporations are still trying to get their feet planted firmly in India. The most interesting takeaway though is the hope in the fight captured in all the pieces but especially the last two essays, "The Loneliness of Noam Chomsky" and "Confronting Empire." Roy pushes you to fight back against oppressors of any kind, but especially of the kind that governments and the powerful like to spin out and mostly for that reason I leave this at a 5.
May 9, 2022
Mostly very specific to her spacetime, but with some real gems for thought.
p13
Any government's condemnation of terrorism is only credible if it shows itself to be responsive to persistent reasonable, closely argued, nonviolent dissent.
p40
There's something pitiable about a people that constantly bemoans its leaders. If they've let us down, it's only because we've allowed them to.
p53
It's not a clever enough subject to speak of from a public platform, but what I would really love to talk to you about is loss. Loss and losing. Grief, failure, brokenness, numbness, uncertainty, fear, the death of feeling, the death of dreaming. The absolute, relentless, endless, habitual unfairness of the world. What does loss mean to individuals? What does it mean to whole cultures, whole peoples who have learned to live with it as a constant companion?
p13
Any government's condemnation of terrorism is only credible if it shows itself to be responsive to persistent reasonable, closely argued, nonviolent dissent.
p40
There's something pitiable about a people that constantly bemoans its leaders. If they've let us down, it's only because we've allowed them to.
p53
It's not a clever enough subject to speak of from a public platform, but what I would really love to talk to you about is loss. Loss and losing. Grief, failure, brokenness, numbness, uncertainty, fear, the death of feeling, the death of dreaming. The absolute, relentless, endless, habitual unfairness of the world. What does loss mean to individuals? What does it mean to whole cultures, whole peoples who have learned to live with it as a constant companion?
October 15, 2020
This woman knows how to put things into perspective! Her writing is phenomenal and I'd like to spend some time sitting in her brain, just to see how the cogs turn, how she makes things link and how she's so damn brilliant.
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This is a collection of essays, mostly giving the reader a look into Indian politics and it's religious fascism and sell-out culture to Western capitalism.
.
This was written in 2003 so there's some coverage on 9/11 and her take on it is not the usual rhetoric. She also comments on America's love for war and explains some of it's more sinister approaches to devastate, control and kill other nations and peoples.
.
This is a collection of essays, mostly giving the reader a look into Indian politics and it's religious fascism and sell-out culture to Western capitalism.
.
This was written in 2003 so there's some coverage on 9/11 and her take on it is not the usual rhetoric. She also comments on America's love for war and explains some of it's more sinister approaches to devastate, control and kill other nations and peoples.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2023
Brilliant writing, quite the wordsmithing. Deeply disturbing trends.
"Our strategy should be not only to confront Empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness—and/or ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.
The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling—their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.
Remember this:We be many and they be a few. They need us more than we need them."
"Our strategy should be not only to confront Empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness—and/or ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.
The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling—their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.
Remember this:We be many and they be a few. They need us more than we need them."
January 28, 2018
inspiring, moving, informative, a call into commonality for all people in this world aching and aghast in the horror of global corporate empire and the wars it brings to seemingly every corner of the globe. Roy's novels have been on my to read list for a long time and I'm glad to have read this series of essays to frame my eventual reading. I feel my spirit revitalized and strengthened by reading her words. a sober reminder of what we're up against and also a vital reinvigoration of how immensely imperative it is to resist the numb defeatist tendrils of cynicism.
August 20, 2020
Good, quick read (though generic at times). Was interesting how even back in 2003 she was effectively calling for the resignation of Modi: issues she addressed related to Hindu nationalism in India still very much remain relevant. Loved that she took it even further and just attacked nationalism as a concept. The distinction she made between being "Anti-American" and "Anti-Americanism" was also very useful. Was not expecting the essay on Chomsky, but I'm always willing to consume more Chomsky-related content.
August 13, 2018
She is among the most brilliant minds of the day. My words cannot describe here's Justice. This is a haunting read sixteen years after it was initially published, especially in light of Narendra Modi's role now as PM versus then, when he was a Chief Minister in Gujarat and oversaw a vicious pogrom against Muslims. Her thoughts on nationalism and fascism are still, unfortunately, timely. Well worth a read.
May 10, 2020
This book is a collection of essays and short stories. These essays and short stories are about violence between countries, racial discrimination, and differences between the communities. In this Arundhati Roy book, she quoted that all war is essentially a war of the rich against the poor. Checkout this article i found online about 10 Best Arundhati Roy Books.
July 24, 2021
Definitely a start to read more Noam Chomsky!!
August 31, 2021
Unfortunately, even more relevant than 20 years ago.
April 24, 2022
Brilliantly written. Revealing and well-researched essays on neocoloniolism and American aggression around the world. Easy to read, but difficult to put down.
June 1, 2022
Not as good as The God of Small Things
January 15, 2023
Didn’t agree with everything, but it was really smart
October 29, 2024
Horrible book, badly written. Don't waste your money.
Want to read
May 25, 2007Indian writer Roy's debut novel, The God of Small Things (1997), met with resounding critical acclaim and won the Booker Prize, but this writer of conscience has turned her attention to the real world ever since, turning herself into an electrifying political essayist. In her third volume of nonfiction, she valiantly addresses questions of power and its abuse, and powerlessness and its transformation via dissent and activism into a force for positive change. Roy dissects her country's violent religious conflicts, celebrates and mourns the seemingly lost legacy of Gandhi, and condemns India's gargantuan and environmentally unsound hydroelectric dam projects and the concomitant displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. She also discusses with invaluable clarity the mess in the Middle East, and presents razor-sharp interpretations of the U.S. government's foreign policy and the insidious influence of mega-corporations. So fluent is her prose, so keen her understanding of global politics, and so resonant her objections to nuclear weapons, assaults against the environment, and the endless suffering of the poor that her essay are as uplifting as they are galvanizing. Donna Seaman
September 8, 2009
From the first essay, "War Talk"
"The threshold of horror has been ratcheted up so high that nothing short of genocide or the prospect of nuclear war merits mention.... The underlying principle of the War Against Terror, the very notion that war is an acceptable solution to terrorism, has ensured that terrorists in the subcontinent now have the power to trigger a nuclear war."
From "Democracy"
"It is amazing to see how neatly nationalism dovetails with fascism....
On the issue of nationalism, it's wise to proceed with caution. Can we not find it in ourselves to belong to an ancient civilization instead of to just a recent nation? To love a land instead of just patrolling a territory?"
"Under the circumstances, it's futile to go on blaming politicians and demanding from them a morality for which they're incapable... There's something pitiable about a people that constantly bemoans its leaders."
"The threshold of horror has been ratcheted up so high that nothing short of genocide or the prospect of nuclear war merits mention.... The underlying principle of the War Against Terror, the very notion that war is an acceptable solution to terrorism, has ensured that terrorists in the subcontinent now have the power to trigger a nuclear war."
From "Democracy"
"It is amazing to see how neatly nationalism dovetails with fascism....
On the issue of nationalism, it's wise to proceed with caution. Can we not find it in ourselves to belong to an ancient civilization instead of to just a recent nation? To love a land instead of just patrolling a territory?"
"Under the circumstances, it's futile to go on blaming politicians and demanding from them a morality for which they're incapable... There's something pitiable about a people that constantly bemoans its leaders."
August 18, 2010
I don't often read political books.
But I love Roy. This is not a novel, but a series of essays and speeches she has given about politics and the post 9/11 political climate.
She is not a fan of fascism. She believes that globalization is the silent fist that is destroying the world. She loathes war and the people who create war. She feels that any government that continues to support war, real or covert should crumble.
These are some of my feelings as well. But I am not articulate. I am not outside of the US seeing our atrocities being played over and over.
I applaud Roy for speaking her mind and giving another perspective.. one I value very deeply.
"Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead."
But I love Roy. This is not a novel, but a series of essays and speeches she has given about politics and the post 9/11 political climate.
She is not a fan of fascism. She believes that globalization is the silent fist that is destroying the world. She loathes war and the people who create war. She feels that any government that continues to support war, real or covert should crumble.
These are some of my feelings as well. But I am not articulate. I am not outside of the US seeing our atrocities being played over and over.
I applaud Roy for speaking her mind and giving another perspective.. one I value very deeply.
"Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead."
Read
December 1, 2012I'm not entirely sure this counts as a book - I read it in about an hour, it's only 100 double-spaced wide-set pages long and is a series of 5 or 6 articles that have been published elsewhere. That being said, it was still a devastating read. I left that hour more depressed than I entered it. Roy calls out the forces of corporate globalization and nationalism that undermine real democracy and manipulate a shell of it instead. They need the appearance of legitimacy from a free press, justice system, open elections, so they let those exist and exploit them behind the scenes to their own ends. I think she's right, and I think the short essay thrown in to assure activists that there's a glimmer of hope is not quite enough to overcome the whole "Well. Shit." feeling the rest of the book cultivated.
Happy Saturday morning!
Happy Saturday morning!
February 29, 2008
Collection of essays, notably "Come September", her speech on the one year anniversary of 911, along with an homage to Chomsky, and a description of the rise of Hindu-Nationalism in India after the explosion of their first atom bomb.
"Come September" is already being used as a university text five years after its deliverance - it will be read and studied for generations, centuries; I'm sure as important a work of reason, literary art, damning indictment and eloquence as Woolstonecraft's Vindication on the Rights of Woman. If you can, hear the live version on CD, which includes an introduction by Howard Zinn and a poem she wrote to a friend of hers. I found the poem so beautiful when I heard it, I transcribed it on a letter I wrote to my sister.
"Come September" is already being used as a university text five years after its deliverance - it will be read and studied for generations, centuries; I'm sure as important a work of reason, literary art, damning indictment and eloquence as Woolstonecraft's Vindication on the Rights of Woman. If you can, hear the live version on CD, which includes an introduction by Howard Zinn and a poem she wrote to a friend of hers. I found the poem so beautiful when I heard it, I transcribed it on a letter I wrote to my sister.
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